the spiritual teachings of ramana maharshi

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Who Am I? (Nan Yar?) The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi Translation by Dr. T. M. P. MAHADEVAN From the original Tamil Published by V. S. RAMANAN PRESIDENT, BOARD OF TRUSTEES SRI RAMANASRAMAM TIRUVANNAMALAI, S. INDIA

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The Spiritual Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi (1875-1950).The Sage of Arunachala, Saint, Spiritual Knowledge, Vedic Wisdom, Baghwan, Sat Chit Ananda, Nonduality, Advaita, Shiva, Shakti, Brahman, Atman, Kundalini Shakti, Krishna, Tamil Meditation,Yoga, Sanatana Dharma, Hinduism, Ashram, Duality, Nirvikalpa, Sadhana, Om Tat Sat, self enquiry, Who am I, Thiruvannamalai, Bhagavan, Sanskrit,Tamil Guru, Tamil Saint, Tamil Master. Vedanta philosophy, Upanishads and the scientific concepts of Vedas, Eternal Life Bliss, Tamil Nadu, Tamil Eeelam, Indian Culture, Eastern philosophy, Self realization, Shaivite, Shaivism, Universal Truths, Universal reality. Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita, Siva Puranam, Karma, Maya, Consciousness, Life and God

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Page 1: The Spiritual Teachings of Ramana Maharshi

Who Am I? (Nan Yar?)The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

Translation byDr. T. M. P. MAHADEVANFrom the original Tamil

Published byV. S. RAMANAN

PRESIDENT, BOARD OF TRUSTEESSRI RAMANASRAMAM

TIRUVANNAMALAI, S. INDIA

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Page 2: The Spiritual Teachings of Ramana Maharshi

Introduction“Who am I?” is the title given to a set of questions and answers bearing on Self-enquiry. Thequestions were put to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi by one Sri M. Sivaprakasam Pillai aboutthe year 1902. Sri Pillai, a graduate in Philosophy, was at the time employed in the RevenueDepartment of the South Arcot Collectorate. During his visit to Tiruvannamalai in 1902 on officialwork, he went to Virupaksha Cave on Arunachala Hill and met the Master there. He sought fromhim spiritual guidance, and solicited answers to questions relating to Self-enquiry. As Bhagavanwas not talking then, not because of any vow he had taken, but because he did not have theinclination to talk, he answered the questions put to him by gestures, and when these were notunderstood, by writing. As recollected and recorded by Sri Sivaprakasam Pillai, there werefourteen questions with answers to them given by Bhagavan. This record was first published bySri Pillai in 1923, along with a couple of poems composed by himself relating how Bhagavan’sgrace operated in his case by dispelling his doubts and by saving him from a crisis in life. ‘Whoam I?’ has been published several times subsequently. We find thirty questions and answers insome editions and twenty-eight in others. There is also another published version in which thequestions are not given, and the teachings are rearranged in the form of an essay. The extantEnglish translation is of this essay. The present rendering is of the text in the form of twenty-eightquestions and answers.

Along with Vicharasangraham (Self-Enquiry), Nan Yar (Who am I?) constitutes the first set ofinstructions in the Master’s own words. These two are the only prosepieces among Bhagavan’sWorks. They clearly set forth the central teaching that the direct path to liberation is Self-enquiry.The particular mode in which the enquiry is to be made is lucidly set forth in Nan Yar. The mindconsists of thoughts. The ‘I’ thought is the first to arise in the mind. When the enquiry ‘ Who am I?’is persistently pursued, all other thoughts get destroyed, and finally the ‘I’ thought itself vanishesleaving the supreme non-dual Self alone. The false identification of the Self with the phenomenaof non-self such as the body and mind thus ends, and there is illumination, Sakshatkara. The processof enquiry of course, is not an easy one. As one enquires ‘Who am I?’, other thoughts will arise;but as these arise, one should not yield to them by following them , on the contrary, one should ask‘To whom do they arise ?’ In order to do this, one has to be extremely vigilant. Through constantenquiry one should make the mind stay in its source, without allowing it to wander away and getlost in the mazes of thought created by itself. All other disciplines such as breath-control andmeditation on the forms of God should be regarded as auxiliary practices. They are useful in so faras they help the mind to become quiescent and one-pointed.

For the mind that has gained skill in concentration, Self-enquiry becomes comparatively easy. It is byceaseless enquiry that the thoughts are destroyed and the Self realized - the plenary Reality in whichthere is not even the ‘I’ thought, the experience which is referred to as “Silence”.

This, in substance, is Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teaching in Nan Yar (Who am I?).

University of Madras - June 30, 1982

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Om Namo Bhagavathe Sri Ramanaya

Who Am I?(Nan Yar?)

As all living beings desire to be happy always, without misery, as in the case of everyone thereis observed supreme love for one’s self, and as happiness alone is the cause for love, in order togain that happiness which is one’s nature and which is experienced in the state of deep sleepwhere there is no mind, one should know one’s self. For that, the path of knowledge, the inquiryof the form “Who am I?”, is the principal means.

1. Who am I ?

The gross body which is composed of the seven humours (dhatus), I am not; the five cognitivesense organs, viz. the senses of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell, which apprehend theirrespective objects, viz. sound, touch, colour, taste, and odour, I am not; the five cognitive sense-organs, viz. the organs of speech, locomotion, grasping, excretion, and procreation, which have astheir respective functions speaking, moving, grasping, excreting, and enjoying, I am not; the fivevital airs, prana, etc., which perform respectively the five functions of in-breathing, etc., I am not;even the mind which thinks, I am not; the nescience too, which is endowed only with the residualimpressions of objects, and in which there are no objects and no functioning’s, I am not.

2. If I am none of these, then who am I?

After negating all of the above-mentioned as ‘not this’, ‘not this’, that Awareness which aloneremains - that I am.

3. What is the nature of Awareness?

The nature of Awareness is existence-consciousness-bliss

4. When will the realization of the Self be gained?

When the world which is what-is-seen has been removed, there will be realization of the Selfwhich is the seer.

5. Will there not be realization of the Self even while the world is there (taken as real)?

There will not be.

6. Why?

The seer and the object seen are like the rope and the snake. Just as the knowledge of the ropewhich is the substrate will not arise unless the false knowledge of the illusory serpent goes, so therealization of the Self which is the substrate will not be gained unless the belief that the world isreal is removed.

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7. When will the world which is the object seen be removed?

When the mind, which is the cause of all cognition’s and of all actions, becomes quiescent, theworld will disappear.

8. What is the nature of the mind?

What is called ‘mind’ is a wondrous power residing in the Self. It causes all thoughts to arise.Apart from thoughts, there is no such thing as mind. Therefore, thought is the nature of mind. Apartfrom thoughts, there is no independent entity called the world. In deep sleep there are no thoughts,and there is no world. In the states of waking and dream, there are thoughts, and there is a worldalso. Just as the spider emits the thread (of the web) out of itself and again withdraws it into itself,likewise the mind projects the world out of itself and again resolves it into itself. When the mindcomes out of the Self, the world appears. Therefore, when the world appears (to be real), the Selfdoes not appear; and when the Self appears (shines) the world does not appear. When onepersistently inquires into the nature of the mind, the mind will end leaving the Self (as the residue).What is referred to as the Self is the Atman. The mind always exists only in dependence onsomething gross; it cannot stay alone. It is the mind that is called the subtle body or the soul (jiva).

9. What is the path of inquiry for understanding the nature of the mind?

That which rises as ‘I’ in this body is the mind. If one inquires as to where in the body the thought‘I’ rises first, one would discover that it rises in the heart. That is the place of the mind’s origin.Even if one thinks constantly ‘I’ ‘I’, one will be led to that place. Of all the thoughts that arise inthe mind, the ‘I’ thought is the first. It is only after the rise of this that the other thoughts arise. It isafter the appearance of the first personal pronoun that the second and third personal pronounsappear; without the first personal pronoun there will not be the second and third.

10. How will the mind become quiescent?

By the inquiry ‘Who am I?’. The thought ‘who am I?’ will destroy all other thoughts, and like thestick used for stirring the burning pyre, it will itself in the end get destroyed. Then, there will ariseSelf-realization.

11. What is the means for constantly holding on to the thought ‘Who am I?’

When other thoughts arise, one should not pursue them, but should inquire: ‘To whom do theyarise?’ It does not matter how many thoughts arise. As each thought arises, one should inquirewith diligence, “To whom has this thought arisen?”. The answer that would emerge would be “Tome”. Thereupon if one inquires “Who am I?”, the mind will go back to its source; and the thoughtthat arose will become quiescent. With repeated practice in this manner, the mind will develop theskill to stay in its source. When the mind that is subtle goes out through the brain and the sense-organs, the gross names and forms appear; when it stays in the heart, the names and forms disappear.Not letting the mind go out, but retaining it in the Heart is what is called “inwardness” (antar-mukha). Letting the mind go out of the Heart is known as “externalisation” (bahir-mukha). Thus,when the mind stays in the Heart, the ‘I’ which is the source of all thoughts will go, and the Self

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which ever exists will shine. Whatever one does, one should do without the egoity “I”. If one actsin that way, all will appear as of the nature of Siva (God).

12. Are there no other means for making the mind quiescent?

Other than inquiry, there are no adequate means. If through other means it is sought to control themind, the mind will appear to be controlled, but will again go forth. Through the control of breathalso, the mind will become quiescent; but it will be quiescent only so long as the breath remainscontrolled, and when the breath resumes the mind also will again start moving and will wander asimpelled by residual impressions. The source is the same for both mind and breath. Thought, indeed,is the nature of the mind. The thought “I” is the first thought of the mind; and that is egoity. It is fromthat whence egoity originates that breath also originates. Therefore, when the mind becomes quiescent,the breath is controlled, and when the breath is controlled the mind becomes quiescent. But in deepsleep, although the mind becomes quiescent, the breath does not stop. This is because of the will ofGod, so that the body may be preserved and other people may not be under the impression that it isdead. In the state of waking and in samadhi, when the mind becomes quiescent the breath is controlled.Breath is the gross form of mind. Till the time of death, the mind keeps breath in the body; and whenthe body dies the mind takes the breath along with it. Therefore, the exercise of breath-control is onlyan aid for rendering the mind quiescent (manonigraha); it will not destroy the mind (manonasa).

Like the practice of breath-control. meditation on the forms of God, repetition of mantras, restrictionon food, etc., are but aids for rendering the mind quiescent.

Through meditation on the forms of God and through repetition of mantras, the mind becomes one-pointed. The mind will always be wandering. Just as when a chain is given to an elephant to holdin its trunk it will go along grasping the chain and nothing else, so also when the mind is occupiedwith a name or form it will grasp that alone. When the mind expands in the form of countlessthoughts, each thought becomes weak; but as thoughts get resolved the mind becomes one-pointedand strong; for such a mind Self-inquiry will become easy. Of all the restrictive rules, that relatingto the taking of sattvic food in moderate quantities is the best; by observing this rule, the sattvicquality of mind will increase, and that will be helpful to Self-inquiry.

13. The residual impressions (thoughts) of objects appear wending like the waves of an ocean.When will all of them get destroyed?

As the meditation on the Self rises higher and higher, the thoughts will get destroyed.

14. Is it possible for the residual impressions of objects that come from beginningless time, asit were, to be resolved, and for one to remain as the pure Self?

Without yielding to the doubt “Is it possible, or not?”, one should persistently hold on to the meditationon the Self. Even if one be a great sinner, one should not worry and weep “O! I am a sinner, how canI be saved?”; one should completely renounce the thought “I am a sinner”; and concentrate keenly onmeditation on the Self; then, one would surely succeed. There are not two minds - one good and theother evil; the mind is only one. It is the residual impressions that are of two kinds - auspicious and

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inauspicious. When the mind is under the influence of auspicious impressions it is called good; andwhen it is under the influence of inauspicious impressions it is regarded as evil.

The mind should not be allowed to wander towards worldly objects and what concerns otherpeople. However bad other people may be, one should bear no hatred for them. Both desire andhatred should be eschewed. All that one gives to others one gives to one’s self. If this truth isunderstood who will not give to others? When one’s self arises all arises; when one’s self becomesquiescent all becomes quiescent. To the extent we behave with humility, to that extent there willresult good. If the mind is rendered quiescent, one may live anywhere.

15. How long should inquiry be practised?

As long as there are impressions of objects in the mind, so long the inquiry “Who am I?” isrequired. As thoughts arise they should be destroyed then and there in the very place of theirorigin, through inquiry. If one resorts to contemplation of the Self unintermittently, until the Self isgained, that alone would do. As long as there are enemies within the fortress, they will continue tosally forth; if they are destroyed as they emerge, the fortress will fall into our hands.

16. What is the nature of the Self?

What exists in truth is the Self alone. The world, the individual soul, and God are appearances init. like silver in mother-of-pearl, these three appear at the same time, and disappear at the sametime. The Self is that where there is absolutely no “I” thought. That is called “Silence”. The Selfitself is the world; the Self itself is “I”; the Self itself is God; all is Siva, the Self.

17. Is not everything the work of God?

Without desire, resolve, or effort, the sun rises; and in its mere presence, the sun-stone emits fire,the lotus blooms, water evaporates; people perform their various functions and then rest. Just as inthe presence of the magnet the needle moves, it is by virtue of the mere presence of God that thesouls governed by the three (cosmic) functions or the fivefold divine activity perform their actionsand then rest, in accordance with their respective karmas. God has no resolve; no karma attachesitself to Him. That is like worldly actions not affecting the sun, or like the merits and demerits ofthe other four elements not affecting all pervading space.

18. Of the devotees, who is the greatest?

He who gives himself up to the Self that is God is the most excellent devotee. Giving one’s self up toGod means remaining constantly in the Self without giving room for the rise of any thoughts otherthan that of the Self. Whatever burdens are thrown on God, He bears them. Since the supreme powerof God makes all things move, why should we, without submitting ourselves to it, constantly worryourselves with thoughts as to what should be done and how, and what should not be done and hownot? We know that the train carries all loads, so after getting on it why should we carry our smallluggage on our head to our discomfort, instead of putting it down in the train and feeling at ease?

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19. What is non-attachment?

As thoughts arise, destroying them utterly without any residue in the very place of their origin isnon-attachment. Just as the pearl-diver ties a stone to his waist, sinks to the bottom of the sea andthere takes the pearls, so each one of us should be endowed with non-attachment, dive withinoneself and obtain the Self-Pearl.

20. Is it not possible for God and the Guru to effect the release of a soul?

God and the Guru will only show the way to release; they will not by themselves take the soul tothe state of release. In truth, God and the Guru are not different. Just as the prey which has falleninto the jaws of a tiger has no escape, so those who have come within the ambit of the Guru’sgracious look will be saved by the Guru and will not get lost; yet, each one should by his owneffort pursue the path shown by God or Guru and gain release. One can know oneself only withone’s own eye of knowledge, and not with somebody else’s. Does he who is Rama require thehelp of a mirror to know that he is Rama?

21. Is it necessary for one who longs for release to inquire into the nature of categories (tattvas)?

Just as one who wants to throw away garbage has no need to analyse it and see what it is, so onewho wants to know the Self has no need to count the number of categories or inquire into theircharacteristics; what he has to do is to reject altogether the categories that hide the Self. Theworld should be considered like a dream.

22. Is there no difference between waking and dream?

Waking is long and a dream short; other than this there is no difference. Just as waking happeningsseem real while awake. so do those in a dream while dreaming. In dream the mind takes onanother body. In both waking and dream states thoughts. names and forms occur simultaneously.

23. Is it any use reading books for those who long for release?

All the texts say that in order to gain release one should render the mind quiescent; therefore theirconclusive teaching is that the mind should be rendered quiescent; once this has been understoodthere is no need for endless reading. In order to quieten the mind one has only to inquire withinoneself what one’s Self is; how could this search be done in books? One should know one’s Selfwith one’s own eye of wisdom. The Self is within the five sheaths; but books are outside them.Since the Self has to be inquired into by discarding the five sheaths, it is futile to search for it inbooks. There will come a time when one will have to forget all that one has learned.

24. What is happiness?

Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not different. There is nohappiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happinessfrom objects. When the mind goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled,it returns to its own place and enjoys the happiness that is the Self. Similarly, in the states of sleep,

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samadhi and fainting, and when the object desired is obtained or the object disliked is removed,the mind becomes inward-turned, and enjoys pure Self-Happiness. Thus the mind moves withoutrest alternately going out of the Self and returning to it. Under the tree the shade is pleasant; out inthe open the heat is scorching. A person who has been going about in the sun feels cool when hereaches the shade. Someone who keeps on going from the shade into the sun and then back into theshade is a fool. A wise man stays permanently in the shade. Similarly, the mind of the one whoknows the truth does not leave Brahman. The mind of the ignorant, on the contrary, revolves in theworld, feeling miserable, and for a little time returns to Brahman to experience happiness. In fact,what is called the world is only thought. When the world disappears, i.e. when there is no thought,the mind experiences happiness; and when the world appears, it goes through misery.

25. What is wisdom-insight (jnana-drsti)?

Remaining quiet is what is called wisdom-insight. To remain quiet is to resolve the mind in theSelf. Telepathy, knowing past, present and future happenings and clairvoyance do not constitutewisdom-insight.

26. What is the relation between desirelessness and wisdom?

Desirelessness is wisdom. The two are not different; they are the same. Desirelessness is refrainingfrom turning the mind towards any object. Wisdom means the appearance of no object. In otherwords, not seeking what is other than the Self is detachment or desirelessness; not leaving the Selfis wisdom.

27. What is the difference between inquiry and meditation?

Inquiry consists in retaining the mind in the Self. Meditation consists in thinking that one’s self isBrahman, existence-consciousness-bliss.

28. What is release?

Inquiring into the nature of one’s self that is in bondage, and realising one’s true nature is release.

SRI RAMANARPANAM ASTU

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Spiritual InstructionOF

BHAGAVAN SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI

EIGHTH EDITION 1974A REVISED TRANSLATION

Published byV. S. RAMANAN

President, Board of TrusteesSRI RAMANASRAMAM

TIRUVANNAMALAI (S. INDIA)

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FOREWORD TO THE ORIGINAL TAMIL VERSION

The Tamil-speaking world knows the life-history and the spiritualinstructions of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi well through the bookswhich have already come out. He shines in the resplendent ArunachalaHill (Tiruvannamalai) as the sun of knowledge which destroys the sorrowsof those who worship him. In this book named Upadesa Manjari (bouquetof spiritual instructions) Sri Natanananda, a true devotee of his, who servesand praises him by laying at his lotus feet many garlands of songs, hasbrought out Bhagavan’s words heard by him at different times. They consistof questions and answers comprising four chapters entitled upadesa(instruction), abhyasa (practice), anubhava (experience) and arudha(attainment). I humbly request devotees to accept this small book whichoffers wholesome food for the spirit.

VISWANATHANSRI RAMANASRAMAM

2-2-34INVOCATION

FOREWORDINVOCATIONIMPORTANCE OF THE WORK

INSTRUCTION (Upadesa)PRACTICE (Abhyasa)EXPERIENCE (Anubhava)ATTAINMENT (Arudha)

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

III

IIIIV

Page

233

46

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I seek refuge at the sacred feet of the blessed Ramana, who performs theentire work of creation, preservation and destruction, while remainingwholly unattached, and who makes us aware of what is real and thus protectsus, that I may set down his words fittingly.

IMPORTANCE OF THE WORK

Worshipping with the instruments (of thought, word and body) the sacredlotus feet of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, the very embodiment of thebeginningless infinite supreme Brahman, the Satchitananda (existence,consciousness, bliss), I have gathered this bouquet of the flowers of hisinstructions (upadesamanjari) for the benefit of those who are foremostamong the seekers of Liberation and who are adored by learned persons,in order that they might adorn themselves with it and attain salvation.

This book is an epitome of the immortal words of that great soul, Sri RamanaMaharshi, whose teachings entirely dispelled the doubts and wrong notionsof this humble person even as the sun dispels darkness.

The subject of this book is that eternal Brahman which shines as the pinnacleand heart of all the Vedas and Agamas.

That incomparable Self-realization (atmasiddhi) which is praised by allthe Upanisads and which is the supreme good to be sought by all nobleaspirants (brahmavids) is the theme of this work.

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CHAPTER 1

INSTRUCTION(Upadesa)

1. What are the marks of a real teacher (Sadguru)?

Steady abidance in the Self, looking at all with an equal eye, unshakeable courage at all times, inall places and circumstances, etc.

2. What are the marks of an earnest disciple (sadsisya)?

An intense longing for the removal of sorrow and attainment of joy and an intense aversion for allkinds of mundane pleasure.

3. What are the characteristics of instruction (upadesa)?

The word ‘upadesa’ means : ‘near the place or seat’ (upa - near, desa - place or seat). The Guruwho is the embodiment of that which is indicated by the terms sat, chit, and ananda (existence,consciousness and bliss), prevents the disciple who, on account of his acceptance of the forms ofthe objects of the senses, has swerved from his true state and is consequently distressed andbuffeted by joys and sorrows, from continuing so and establishes him in his own real naturewithout differentiation.

Upadesa also means showing a distant object quite near. It is brought home to the disciple that theBrahman which he believes to be distant and different from himself is near and not different fromhimself.

4. If it be true that the Guru is one’s own Self (atman), what is the principle underlying thedoctrine which says that, however learned a disciple may be or whatever occult powers he maypossess, he cannot attain self-realization (atma-siddhi) without the grace of the Guru?

Although in absolute truth the state of the Guru is that of oneself it is very hard for the Self whichhas become the individual soul (jiva) through ignorance to realize its true state or nature withoutthe grace of the Guru.

All mental concepts are controlled by the mere presence of the real Guru. If he were to say to onewho arrogantly claims that he has seen the further shore of the ocean of learning or one who claimsarrogantly that he can perform deeds which are well-nigh impossible, “Yes, you learnt all that isto be learnt, but have you learnt (to know) yourself? And you who are capable of performingdeeds which are almost impossible, have you seen yourself?”, they will bow their heads (inshame) and remain silent. Thus it is evident that only by the grace of the Guru and by no otheraccomplishment is it possible to know oneself.

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5. What are the marks of the Guru’s grace?

It is beyond words or thoughts.

6. If that is so, how is it that it is said that the disciple realizes his true state by the Guru’sgrace?

It is like the elephant which wakes up on seeing a lion in its dream. Even as the elephant wakes upat the mere sight of the lion, so too is it certain that the disciple wakes up from the sleep ofignorance into the wakefulness of true knowledge through the Guru’s benevolent look of grace.

7. What is the significance of the saying that the nature of the real Guru is that of the SupremeLord (Sarvesvara)?

In the case of the individual soul which desires to attain the state of true knowledge or the state ofGodhood (Isvara) and with that object always practises devotion, when the individual’s devotionhas reached a mature stage, the Lord who is the witness of that individual soul and identical withit, comes forth in human form with the help of sat-chit-ananda, His three natural features, andform and name which he also graciously assumes, and in the guise of blessing the disciple, absorbshim in Himself. According to this doctrine the Guru can truly be called the Lord.

8. How then did some great persons attain knowledge without a Guru?

To a few mature persons the Lord shines as the light of knowledge and imparts awareness of thetruth.

9. What is the end of devotion (bhakti) and the path of Siddhanta (i.e., Saiva Siddhanta)?

It is to learn the truth that all one’s actions performed with unselfish devotion, with the aid of thethree purified instruments (body, speech and mind), in the capacity of the servant of the Lord,become the Lord’s actions, and to stand forth free from the sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. This is also thetruth of what the Saiva-Siddhantins call para-bhakti (supreme devotion) or living in the serviceof God (irai-pani-nittral).

10. What is the end of the path of knowledge (jnana) or Vedanta?

It is to know the truth that the ‘I’ is not different from the Lord (Isvara) and to be free from thefeeling of being the doer (kartrtva, ahamkara).

11. How can it be said that the end of both these paths is the same?

Whatever the means, the destruction of the sense ‘I’ and ‘mine’ is the goal, and as these areinterdependent, the destruction of either of them causes the destruction of the other; therefore in orderto achieve that state of Silence which is beyond thought and word, either the path of knowledge

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which removes the sense of ‘I’ or the path of devotion which removes the sense of ‘mine’, willsuffice. So there is no doubt that the end of the paths of devotion and knowledge is one and the same.____________________________________________NOTE: So long as the ‘I’ exists it is necessary to accept the Lord also. If any one wishes to regain easily thesupreme state of identity (sayujya) now lost to him, it is only proper that he should accept this conclusion.

12. What is the mark of the ego?

The individual soul of the form of ‘I’ is the ego The Self which is of the nature of intelligence(chit) has no sense of ‘I’. Nor does the insentient body possess a sense of ‘I’. The mysteriousappearance of a delusive ego between the intelligent and the insentient, being the root cause of allthese troubles, upon its destruction by whatever means, that which really exists will be seen as itis. This is called Liberation (moksha).

CHAPTER II

PRACTICE(Abhyasa)

1. What is the method of practice?

As the Self of a person who tries to attain Self-realization is not different from him and as there isnothing other than or superior to him to be attained by him, Self-realization being only the realizationof one’s own nature, the seeker of Liberation realizes, without doubts or misconceptions, his realnature by distinguishing the eternal from the transient, and never swerves from his natural state.This is known as the practice of knowledge. This is the enquiry leading to Self-realization.

2. Can this path of enquiry be followed by all aspirants?

This is suitable only for the ripe souls. The rest should follow different methods according to thestate of their minds.

3. What are the other methods?

They are (i) stuti, (ii) japa, (iii) dhyana, (iv) yoga,(v) jnana, etc.

(i) stuti is singing the praises of the Lord with a great feeling of devotion.

(ii) japa is uttering the names of the gods or sacred mantras like Om either mentally orverbally.(While following the methods of stuti and japa the mind will sometimes be concentrated(lit. closed) and sometimes diffused (lit. open). The vagaries of the mind will not be evident tothose who follow these methods).

(iii) dhyana denotes the repetition of the names, etc., mentally (japa) with feelings of devotion. Inthis method the state of the mind will be understood easily. For the mind does not become

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concentrated and diffused simultaneously. When one is in dhyana it does not contact the objectsof the senses, and when it is in contact with the objects it is not in dhyana. Therefore those whoare in this state can observe the vagaries of the mind then and there and by stopping the mind fromthinking other thoughts, fix it in dhyana. Perfection in dhyana is the state of abiding in the Self(lit., abiding in the form of ‘that’ tadakaranilai) .

As meditation functions in an exceedingly subtle manner at the source of the mind it is not difficultto perceive its rise and subsidence.

(iv) yoga: The source of the breath is the same as that of the mind; therefore the subsidence ofeither leads effortlessly to that of the other. The practice of stilling the mind through breath control(pranayama) is called yoga.

Fixing their minds on psychic centres such as the sahasrara (lit. the thousand-petalled lotus)yogis remain any length of time without awareness of their bodies. As long as this state continuesthey appear to be immersed in some kind of joy. But when the mind which has become tranquilemerges (becomes active again) it resumes its worldly thoughts. It is therefore necessary to trainit with the help of practices like dhyana, whenever it becomes externalised. It will then attain astate in which there is neither subsidence nor emergence.

(v) jnana is the annihilation of the mind in which it is made to assume the form of the Self throughthe constant practice of dhyana or enquiry (vichara). The extinction of the mind is the state inwhich there is a cessation of all efforts. Those who are established in this state never swerve fromtheir true state. The terms ‘silence’ (mouna) and inaction refer to this state alone.____________________________________________NOTE: (1) All practices are followed only with the object of concentrating the mind. As all the mentalactivities like remembering, forgetting, desiring, hating, attracting, discarding, etc., are modifications of themind, they cannot be one’s true state. Simple, changeless being is one’s true nature. Therefore to know thetruth of one’s being and to be it, is known as release from bondage and the destruction of the knot (granthinasam). Until this state of tranquillity of mind is firmly attained, the practice of unswerving abidance in theSelf and keeping the mind unsoiled by various thoughts, is essential for an aspirant.(2) Although the practices for achieving strength of mind are numerous, all of them achieve the same end.For it can be seen that whoever concentrates his mind on any object, will, on the cessation of all mentalconcepts, ultimately remain merely as that object. This is called successful meditation (dhyana siddhi).Those who follow the path of enquiry realize that the mind which remains at the end of the enquiry isBrahman. Those who practise meditation realize that the mind which remains at the end of the meditationis the object of their meditation. As the result is the same in either case it is the duty of aspirants to practisecontinuously either of these methods till the goal is reached.

4. Is the state of ‘being still’ a state involving effort or effortless?

It is not an effortless state of indolence. All mundane activities which are ordinarily called effortare performed with the aid of a portion of the mind and with frequent breaks. But the act ofcommunion with the Self (atma vyavahara) or remaining still inwardly is intense activity whichis performed with the entire mind and without break.

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Maya (delusion or ignorance) which cannot be destroyed by any other act is completely destroyedby this intense activity which is called ‘silence’ (mouna).

5. What is the nature of maya?

Maya is that which makes us regard as non-existent the Self, the Reality, which is always andeverywhere present, all-pervasive and self-luminous, and as existent the individual soul (jiva),the world (jagat), and God (para) which have been conclusively proved to be non-existent at alltimes and places.

6. As the Self shines fully of its own accord why is it not generally recognised like the otherobjects of the world by all persons?

Wherever particular objects are known it is the Self which has known itself in the form of thoseobjects. For what is known as knowledge or awareness is only the patency of the Self (atmasakti). The Self is the only sentient object. There is nothing apart from the Self. If there are suchobjects they are all insentient and therefore cannot either know themselves or mutually know oneanother. It is because the Self does not know its true nature in this manner that it seems to beimmersed and struggling in the ocean of birth (and death) in the form of the individual soul.

7. Although the Lord is all-pervasive it appears, from passages like “adorning him through HisGrace”, that He can be known only through His grace. How then can the individual soul by itsown efforts attain self-realization in he absence of the Lord’s Grace?

As the Lord denotes the Self and as Grace means the Lord’s presence or revelation, there is notime when the Lord remains unknown. If the light of the sun is invisible to the owl it is only thefault of that bird and not of the sun. Similarly can the unawareness by ignorant persons of the Selfwhich is always of the nature of awareness be other than their own fault? How can it be the faultof the Self? It is because Grace is of the very nature of the Lord that He is well-known as ‘theblessed Grace’. Therefore the Lord, whose nature itself is Grace, does not have to bestow HisGrace. Nor is there any particular time for bestowing His Grace.

8. What part of the body is the abode of the Self?

The heart on the right side of the chest is generally indicated. This is because we usually point tothe right side of the chest when we refer to ourselves. Some say that the sahasrara (the thousand-petalled lotus) is the abode of the Self. But if that were true the head should not fall forward whenwe go to sleep or faint.

9. What is the nature of the heart?

The sacred texts describing it say:

Between the two nipples, below the chest and above the abdomen, there are six organs of differentcolours1. One of them resembling the bud of a water lily and situated two digits to the right is the

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heart. It is inverted and within it is a tiny orifice which is the seat of dense darkness (ignorance)full of desires. All the psychic nerves (nadis) depend upon it. It is the abode of the vital forces, themind and the light (of consciousness). (See Appendix to Reality in Forty Verses 18 -19).______________________________1. These are not the same as the Chakras.

But, although it is described thus, the meaning of the word heart (hrdayam) is the Self (atman). Asit is denoted by the terms existence, consciousness, bliss, eternal and plenum (sat, chit, anandam,nityam, purnam) it has no differences such as exterior and interior or up and down. That tranquilstate in which all thoughts come to an end is called the state of the Self. When it is realized as it is,there is no scope for discussions about its location inside the body or outside.

10. Why do thoughts of many objects arise in the mind even when there is no contact withexternal objects?

All such thoughts are due to latent tendencies (purva samskaras). They appear only to the individualconsciousness (jiva) which has forgotten its real nature and become externalised. Wheneverparticular things are perceived, the enquiry “Who is it that sees them”? should be made; they willthen disappear at once.

11. How do the triple factors (i.e., knower, known and knowledge), which are absent in deepsleep, samadhi, etc., manifest themselves in the Self (in the states of waking and dreaming)?

From the Self there arise in succession

(i) Chidabhasa (reflected consciousness) which is a kind of luminosity.

(ii) Jiva (the individual consciousness) or the seer or the first concept.

(iii) Phenomena, that is the world.

12. Since the Self is free from the notions of knowledge and ignorance how can it be said topervade the entire body in the shape of sentience or to impart sentience to the senses?

Wise men say that there is a connection between the source of the various psychic nerves and theSelf, that this is the knot of the heart, that the connection between the sentient and the insentientwill exist until this is cut asunder with the aid of true knowledge, that just as the subtle andinvisible force of electricity travels through wires and does many wonderful things, so the forceof the Self also travels through the psychic nerves and, pervading the entire body, imparts sentienceto the senses, and that if this knot is cut the Self will remain as it always is, without any attributes.

13. How can there be a connection between the Self which is pure knowledge and the triplefactors which are relative knowledge?

This is, in a way, like the working of a cinema as shown below:-

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Just as the pictures appear on the screen as long as the film throws the shadows through the lens,so the phenomenal world will continue to appear to the individual in the waking and dream statesas long as there are latent mental impressions. Just as the lens magnifies the tiny specks on the filmto a huge size and as a number of pictures are shown in a second, so the mind enlarges the sprout-like tendencies into tree-like thoughts and shows in a second innumerable worlds. Again, just asthere is only the light of the lamp visible when there is no film, so the Self alone shines without thetriple factors when the mental concepts in the form of tendencies are absent in the states of deepsleep, swoon and samadhi. Just as the lamp illumines the lens, etc., while remaining unaffected,the Self illumines the ego (chidabhasa), etc., while remaining unaffected.

14. What is dhyana (meditation)?

It is abiding as one’s Self without swerving in any way from one’s real nature and without feelingthat one is meditating. As one is not in the least conscious of the different states (waking, dreaming,etc.) in this condition, the sleep (noticeable) here is also regarded as dhyana.

15. What is the difference between dhyana and samadhi?

Dhyana is achieved through deliberate mental effort; in samadhi there is no such effort.

16. What are the factors to be kept in view in dhyana ?

It is important for one who is established in his Self (atma nista) to see that he does not swerve inthe least from this absorption. By swerving from his true nature he may see before him brighteffulgences, etc., or hear (unusual) sounds or regard as real the visions of gods appearing withinor outside himself. He should not be deceived by these and forget himself.____________________________________________NOTE: (i) If the moments that are wasted in thinking of the objects which are not the Self, are spent onenquiry into the Self, Self-Realization will be attained in a very short time.(ii) Until the mind becomes established in itself some kind of bhavana (contemplation of a personified godor goddess with deep emotion and religious feeling) is essential. Otherwise the mind will be frequentlyassailed by wayward thoughts or sleep.

CINEMA SHOWThe lamp inside (the apparatus)The lens in front of the lampThe film which is a long series of (separatephotos).The lens, the light passing through it and thelamp, which together form the focused light.The light passing through the lens and falling onthe screen.The various kinds of pictures appearing in thelight of the screen.The mechanism which sets the film in motion.

SELFThe SelfThe pure (sattvic) mind close to the Self.The stream of latent tendencies consisting ofsubtle thoughts.The mind, the illumination of it and the Self,which together form the seer or the Jiva.The light of the Self emerging from the mindthrough the senses, and falling on the world.The various forms and names appearing as theobjects perceived in the light of the world.The divine law manifesting the latent tendenciesof the mind.

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(iii) Without spending all the time in practising bhavanas like ‘I am Siva’ or ‘I am Brahman’, which areregarded as nirgunopasana (contemplation of the attributeless Brahman), the method of enquiry intooneself should be practised as soon as the mental strength which is the result of such upasana (contemplation)is attained.(iv) The excellence of the practice (sadhana) lies in not giving room for even a single mental concept (vritti)

17. What are the rules of conduct which an aspirant (sadhaka) should follow?

Moderation in food, moderation in sleep and moderation in speech.

18. How long should one practice?

Until the mind attains effortlessly its natural state of freedom from concepts, that is till the sense of‘I’ and ‘mine’ exists no longer.

19. What is the meaning of dwelling in solitude (ekanta vasa)?

As the Self is all-pervasive it has no particular place for solitude. The state of being free frommental concepts is called ‘dwelling in solitude’.

20. What is the sign of wisdom (viveka)?

Its beauty lies in remaining free from delusion after realising the truth once. There is fear only forone who sees at least a slight difference in the Supreme Brahman. So long as there is the idea thatthe body is the Self one cannot be a realizer of truth whoever he might be.

21. If everything happens according to karma (prarabdha: the result of one’s acts in the past)how is one to overcome the obstacles to meditation (dhyana)?

Prarabdha concerns only the out-turned, not the in-turned mind. One who seeks his real Self willnot be afraid of any obstacle.

22. Is asceticism (sanyasa) one of the essential requisites for a person to become established inthe Self (atma nista)?

The effort that is made to get rid of attachment to one’s body is really towards abiding in the Self.Maturity of thought and enquiry alone removes attachment to the body, not the stations of life(asramas), such as student (brahmachari), etc. For the attachment is in the mind while the stationspertain to the body. How can bodily stations remove the attachment in the mind? As maturity ofthought and enquiry pertain to the mind these alone can, by enquiry on the part of the same mind,remove the attachments which have crept into it through thoughtlessness. But, as the discipline ofasceticism (sanyasasrama) is the means for attaining dispassion (vairagya), and as dispassion isthe means for enquiry, joining an order of ascetics may be regarded, in a way, as a means ofenquiry through dispassion. Instead of wasting one’s life by entering the order of ascetics beforeone is fit for it, it is better to live the householder’s life. In order to fix the mind in the Self which

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is its true nature it is necessary to separate it from the family of fancies (samkalpas) and doubts(vikalpas), that is to renounce the family (samsara) in the mind. This is the real asceticism.

23. It is an established rule that so long as there is the least idea of I-am-the-doer, Self-knowledgecannot be attained, but is it possible for an aspirant who is a householder to discharge hisduties properly without this sense?

As there is no rule that action should depend upon a sense of being the doer it is unnecessary todoubt whether any action will take place without a doer or an act of doing. Although the officer ofa government treasury may appear, in the eyes of others, to be doing his duty attentively andresponsibly all day long, he will be discharging his duties without attachment, thinking ‘I have noreal connection with all this money’ and without a sense of involvement in his mind. In the samemanner a wise householder may also discharge without attachment the various household dutieswhich fall to his lot according to his past karma, like a tool in the hands of another. Action andknowledge are not obstacles to each other.

24. Of what use to his family is a wise householder who is unmindful of his bodily comforts andof what use is his family to him?

Although he is entirely unmindful of his bodily comforts, if, owing to his past karma, his familyhave to subsist by his efforts, he may be regarded as doing service to others. If it is askedwhether the wise man derives any benefit from the discharge of domestic duties, it may beanswered that, as he has already attained the state of complete satisfaction which is the sumtotal of all benefits and the highest good of all, he does not stand to gain anything more bydischarging family duties.

25. How can cessation of activity (nivritti) and peace of mind be attained in the midst of householdduties which are of the nature of constant activity?

As the activities of the wise man exist only in the eyes of others and not in his own, although hemay be accomplishing immense tasks, he really does nothing. Therefore his activities do not standin the way of inaction and peace of mind. For he knows the truth that all activities take place in hismere presence and that he does nothing. Hence he will remain as the silent witness of all theactivities taking place.

26. Just as the Sage’s past karma is the cause of his present activities will not the impressions(vasanas) caused by his present activities adhere to him in future?

Only one who is free from all the latent tendencies (vasanas) is a Sage. That being so how can thetendencies of karma affect him who is entirely unattached to activity?

27. What is the meaning of brahmacharya?

Only enquiry into Brahman should be called brahmacharya.

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28. Will the practice of brahmacharya which is followed in conformity with the (four) orders oflife (asramas) be a means of knowledge?

As the various means of knowledge, such as control of senses, etc., are included in brahmacharyathe virtuous practices duly followed by those who belong to the order of students (brahmacharins)are very helpful for their improvement.

29. Can one enter the order of ascetics (sanyasa) directly from the order of students(brahmacharya)?

Those who are competent need not formally enter the orders of brahmacharya, etc., in the orderlaid down. One who has realized his Self does not distinguish between the various orders of life.Therefore no order of life either helps or hinders him.

30. Does an aspirant (sadhaka) lose anything by not observing the rules of caste and orders oflife?

As the attainment (anusthana, lit. practice) of knowledge is the supreme end of all other practices,there is no rule that one who remains in any one order of life and constantly acquires knowledgeis bound to follow the rules laid down for that order of life. If he follows the rules of caste andorders of life he does so for the good of the world. He does not derive any benefit by observing therules. Nor does he lose anything by not observing them.

CHAPTER III

EXPERIENCE(Anubhava)

1. What is the light of consciousness?

It is the self-luminous existence-consciousness which reveals to the seer the world of names andforms both inside and outside. The existence of this existence-consciousness can be inferred bythe objects illuminated by it. It does not become the object of consciousness.

2. What is knowledge (vijnana)?

It is that tranquil state of existence-consciousness which is experienced by the aspirant and whichis like the waveless ocean or the motionless ether.

3. What is bliss?

It is the experience of joy (or peace) in the state of vijnana free of all activities and similar todeep sleep. This is also called the state of kevala nirvikalpa (remaining without concepts).

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4. What is the state beyond bliss?

It is the state of unceasing peace of mind which is found in the state of absolute quiescence,jagrat-sushupti (lit. sleep with awareness) which resembles inactive deep sleep. In this state, inspite of the activity of the body and the senses, there is no external awareness, like a child immersedin sleep1 (who is not conscious of the food given to him by his mother). A yogi who is in this stateis inactive even while engaged in activity. This is also called sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi (naturalstate of absorption in oneself without concepts).____________________________________________1. The acts of sleeping children like eating and drinking are acts only in the eyes of others and not in their own.They do not therefore really do those acts in spite of their appearing to do them.

5. What is the authority for saying that the entire moving and unmoving worlds depend upononeself?

The Self means the embodied being. It is only after the energy, which was latent in the state ofdeep sleep, emerges with the idea of ‘I’ that all objects are experienced. The Self is present inall perceptions as the perceiver. There are no objects to be seen when the ‘I’ is absent. For allthese reasons it may undoubtedly be said that everything comes out of the Self and goes back tothe Self.

6. As the bodies and the selves animating them are everywhere actually observed to beinnumerable how can it be said that the Self is only one?

If the idea ‘I am the body’ is accepted1, the selves are multiple. The state in which this ideavanishes is the Self since in that state there are no other objects. It is for this reason that the Self isregarded as one only.____________________________________________1. The idea that one is one’s body is what is called hrdaya-granthi (knot of the heart). Of the various knotsthis knot, which binds together what is conscious with what is insentient, is what causes bondage.

7. What is the authority for saying that Brahman can be apprehended by the mind and at thesame time that it cannot be apprehended by the mind?

It cannot be apprehended by the impure mind but can be apprehended by the pure mind.

8. What is pure mind and what is impure mind?

When the indefinable power of Brahman separates itself from Brahman and, in union with thereflection of consciousness (chidabhasa) assumes various forms, it is called the impure mind.When it becomes free from the reflection of consciousness (abhasa), through discrimination, it iscalled the pure mind. Its state of union with the Brahman is its apprehension of Brahman. Theenergy which is accompanied by the reflection of consciousness is called the impure mind and itsstate of separation from Brahman is its non-apprehension of Brahman.

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9. Is it possible to overcome, even while the body exists, the karma (prarabdha) which is saidto last till the end of the body?

Yes. If the agent (doer) upon whom the karma depends, namely the ego, which has come intoexistence between the body and the Self, merges in its source and loses its form, will the karmawhich depends upon it alone survive? Therefore when there is no ‘I’ there is no karma.

10. As the Self is existence and consciousness, what is the reason for describing it as differentfrom the existent and the non-existent, the sentient and the insentient?

Although the Self is real, as it comprises everything, it does not give room for questions involvingduality about its reality or unreality. Therefore it is said to be different from the real and theunreal. Similarly, even though it is consciousness, since there is nothing for it to know or to makeitself known to, it is said to be different from the sentient and the insentient.

CHAPTER IV

ATTAINMENT(Arudha)

1. What is the state of attainment of knowledge?

It is firm and effortless abidance in the Self in which the mind which has become one with the Selfdoes not subsequently emerge again at any time. That is, just as everyone usually and naturally hasthe idea, ‘I am not a goat nor a cow nor any other animal but a man’, when he thinks of his body, soalso when he has the idea ‘I am not the principles (tatwas) beginning with the body and ending withsound (nada), but the Self which is existence, consciousness and bliss’, the innate self-consciousness(atmaprajna), he is said to have attained firm knowledge.

2. To which of the seven stages of knowledge (jnana-bhoomikas)* does the sage (jnani) belong?

He belongs to the fourth stage.

3. If that is so why have three more stages superior to it been distinguished?

The marks of the stages four to seven are based upon the experiences of the realized person(jivanmukta). They are not states of knowledge and release. So far as knowledge and release areconcerned no distinction whatever is made in these four stages.______________________________* The seven jnana bhoomikas are:-1. subheccha (the desire for enlightenment).2. vicharana (enquiry).3. tanumanasa (tenuous mind).4. satwapatti (self-realization).5. asamsakti (non-attachment).

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6. padarthabhavana (non-perception of objects).7. turyaga (transcendence).

Those who have attained the last four bhoomikas are called brahmavit, brahmavidvara,brahmavidvariya and brahmavid varistha respectively.

4. As liberation is common to all, why is the varistha (lit. the most excellent) alone praisedexcessively?

So far as the varistha’s common experience of bliss is concerned he is extolled only because of thespecial merit acquired by him in his previous births which is the cause of it.

5. As there is no one who does not desire to experience constant bliss what is the reason why allsages (jnanis) do not attain the state of varistha?

It is not to be attained by mere desire or effort. Karma (prarabdha) is its cause. As the ego dies alongwith its cause even in the fourth stage (bhoomika), what agent is there beyond that stage to desireanything or to make efforts? So long as they make efforts they will not be sages (jnanis) . Do thesacred texts (srutis) which specially mention the varistha say that the other three are unenlightenedpersons?

6. As some sacred texts say that the supreme state is that in which the sense organs and the mindare completely destroyed, how can that state be compatible with the experience of the body andthe senses?

If that were so there would not be any difference between that state and the state of deep sleep.Further how can it be said to be the natural state when it exists at one time and not at another? Thishappens, as stated before, to some persons according to their karma (prarabdha) for some time ortill death. It cannot properly be regarded as the final state. If it could it would mean that all greatsouls and the Lord, who were the authors of the Vedantic works (jnana granthas) and the Vedas,were unenlightened persons. If the supreme state is that in which neither the senses nor the mind existand not the state in which they exist, how can it be the perfect state (paripurnam)? As karma alone isresponsible for the activity or inactivity of the sages, great souls have declared the state of sahajanirvikalpa (the natural state without concepts) alone to be the ultimate state.

7. What is the difference between ordinary sleep and waking sleep (jagrat sushupti)?

In ordinary sleep there are not only no thoughts but also no awareness. In waking sleep there isawareness alone. That is why it is called awake while sleeping, that is the sleep in which there isawareness.

8. Why is the Self described both as the fourth state (turiya) and beyond the fourth state (turiyatita)?

Turiya means that which is the fourth. The experiencers (jivas) of the three states of waking, dreaming

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and deep sleep, known as visva, taijasa and prajna, who wander successively in these three states,are not the Self. It is with the object of making this clear, namely that the Self is that which is differentfrom them and which is the witness of these states, that it is called the fourth (turiya). When this isknown the three experiencers disappear and the idea that the Self is a witness, that it is the fourth,also disappears. That is why the Self is described as beyond the fourth (turiyatita).

9. What is the benefit derived by the sage from the sacred books (Srutis)?

The sage who is the embodiment of the truths mentioned in the scriptures has no use for them.

10. Is there any connection between the attainment of supernatural powers (siddhis) and Liberation(mukti)?

Enlightened enquiry alone leads to Liberation. Supernatural powers are all illusory appearancescreated by the power of maya (mayashakti). Self-realization which is permanent is the only trueaccomplishment (siddhi). Accomplishments which appear and disappear, being the effect of maya,cannot be real. They are accomplished with the object of enjoying fame, pleasures, etc. They comeunsought to some persons through their karma. Know that union with Brahman is the real aim of allaccomplishments. This is also the state of Liberation (aikya mukti) known as union (sayujya).

11. If this is the nature of Liberation (moksha) why do some scriptures connect it with the bodyand say that the individual soul can attain Liberation only when it does not leave the body?

It is only if bondage is real that Liberation and the nature of its experiences have to be considered. Sofar as the Self (Purusha) is concerned it has really no bondage in any of the four states. As bondageis merely a verbal assumption according to the emphatic proclamation of the Vedanta system, howcan the question of Liberation, which depends upon the question of bondage, arise when there is nobondage? Without knowing this truth, to enquire into the nature of bondage and Liberation, is likeenquiring into the non-existent height, colour, etc., of a barren woman’s son or the horns of a hare.

12. If that is so, do not the descriptions of bondage and release found in the scriptures becomeirrelevant and untrue?

No, they do not. On the contrary, the delusion of bondage fabricated by ignorance from time immemorialcan be removed only by knowledge, and for this purpose the term ‘Liberation’ (mukti) has beenusually accepted. That is all. The fact that the characteristics of Liberation are described in differentways proves that they are imaginary.

13. If that is so, are not all efforts such as study (lit. hearing) reflection, etc., useless?

No, they are not. The firm conviction that there is neither bondage nor liberation is the supremepurpose of all efforts. As this purpose of seeing boldly, through direct experience, that bondage andliberation do not exist, cannot be achieved except with the aid of the aforesaid practices, theseefforts are useful.

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14. Is there any authority for saying that there is neither bondage nor Liberation?

This is decided on the strength of experience and not merely on the strength of the scriptures.

15. If it is experienced how is it experienced?

‘Bondage’ and ‘Liberation’ are mere linguistic terms. They have no reality of their own. Thereforethey cannot function of their own accord. It is necessary to accept the existence of some basic thingof which they are the modifications. If one enquires, ‘for whom is there bondage and Liberation?’ itwill be seen, ‘they are for me’. If one enquires, ‘who am I?’, one will see that there is no such thingas the ‘I’. It will then be as clear as an amalaka fruit in one’s hand that what remains is one’s realbeing. As this truth will be naturally and clearly experienced by those who leave aside mere verbaldiscussions and enquire into themselves inwardly, there is no doubt that all realized persons uniformlysee neither bondage nor Liberation so far as the true Self is concerned.

16. If truly there is neither bondage nor Liberation what is the reason for the actual experience ofjoys and sorrows?

They appear to be real only when one turns aside from one’s real nature. They do not really exist.

17. Is it possible for everyone to know directly without doubt what exactly is one’s true nature?

Undoubtedly it is possible.

18. How?

It is the experience of everyone that even in the states of deep sleep, fainting, etc., when the entireuniverse, moving and stationary, beginning with earth and ending with the unmanifested (Prakriti),disappear, he does not disappear. Therefore the state of pure being which is common to all andwhich is always experienced directly by everybody is one’s true nature. The conclusion is that allexperiences in the enlightened as well as the ignorant state, which may be described by newer andnewer words, are opposed to one’s real nature.

May this book consisting of the words of experience, which have come out of the lotus heart ofBhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, shine as a lamp of true knowledge to illuminate the true minds ofthose who have renounced (the world).

BLESSINGS

May the world be blessed for long with the feet of Guru Ramana who abides as that silent principlewhich absorbs all of us and remains by itself as the root of the three principles (soul, world andIswara).

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SRI RAMANASRAMAMSRI RAMANASRAMAMSRI RAMANASRAMAMSRI RAMANASRAMAMSRI RAMANASRAMAMTTTTTiririririruvuvuvuvuvannamalaiannamalaiannamalaiannamalaiannamalai

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BBBBBOOKOOKOOKOOKOOKS 1 & IIS 1 & IIS 1 & IIS 1 & IIS 1 & II

MaharshiMaharshiMaharshiMaharshiMaharshi’s’s’s’s’s GospelGospelGospelGospelGospel

Being Answers ofBBBBBHAGAVANHAGAVANHAGAVANHAGAVANHAGAVAN S S S S SRIRIRIRIRI R R R R RAMANAAMANAAMANAAMANAAMANA M M M M MAHARSHIAHARSHIAHARSHIAHARSHIAHARSHI

to Questions put to Him by Devotees

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© Sri RamanasramamTiruvannamalai

Thirteenth Edition 2002Copies 2000

CC No: 1025ISBN 81-88018-02-3

Price: Rs. 25

Published byV.S. RamananPresident, Board of TrusteesSri RamanasramamTiruvannamalai 606 603

Designed and typeset atSri Ramanasramam

Printed byKartik Offset PrintersChennai 600 015

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FIRST PUBLISHED ON THE OCCASIONof the

60TH JAYANTIof

Bhagavan Sri Ramana MaharshiBhagavan Sri Ramana MaharshiBhagavan Sri Ramana MaharshiBhagavan Sri Ramana MaharshiBhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

27th December 1939

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PREFPREFPREFPREFPREFAAAAACECECECECE

In response to the earnest desire of a large numberof devotees of Bhagavan Sri Ramana, the answers tosome of the questions put to Him from time to timeare printed in a book-form under the titleMAHARSHI’S GOSPEL for the benefit of the worldat large.

These questions occur to ever so many of us, andwe struggle within ourselves to solve them. Theanswers given by Maharshi are the quintessence ofDivine Wisdom, based as they are on His directknowledge and experience. His answers are ofinestimable value to the earnest seeker of Truth.

The profound truth of Advaita that the one andonly Reality is the Self absolute or Brahman, hasnowhere been more lucidly expounded than in thesepages. Because, on the one hand, it is on the basis ofthe highest experience that is His, that BhagavanSri Ramana speaks, and on the other, it is from theviewpoint of the common understanding of thelayman that the aspirant seeks to know the Truth.

Truth is the same for one and all, and Sri Bhagavandirects the earnest aspirant to investigate and

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v

* The reader is referred to Sri Swami Siddheswarananda’s Article on page 68.

critically examine his own intimate experience andto seek for himself the core of his being, the Heart,which is eternally identical with the One UltimateReality, of which everything else seen or known ismerely a phenomenal manifestation.

Every word that comes from the lips of the Sageis of the essence of Upanishadic wisdom, of whichHe is Himself the Supreme Embodiment.*

The devout reader will find in these pages practicaladvice, and will gain the conviction that his essentialnature is Divine;

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Chapter Page

1 Work and Renunciation 2

II Silence and Solitude 13

III Mind-control 16

IV Bhakti and Jnana 23

V Self and Individuality 26

VI Self-realization 31

VII Guru and His Grace 36

VIII Peace and Happiness 43

BOOK II

1 Self-enquiry 46

11 Sadhana and Grace 55

III The Jnani and the World 60

IV The Heart is the Self 72

V The Place of the Heart 78

VI Aham and Aham-Vritti 86

Appendix 95

Glossary 102

CONTENTS

BOOK I

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MAHARSHI’S GOSPELMAHARSHI’S GOSPELMAHARSHI’S GOSPELMAHARSHI’S GOSPELMAHARSHI’S GOSPEL

BOOKBOOKBOOKBOOKBOOK IIIII

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IIIIIWWWWWORKORKORKORKORK ANDANDANDANDAND R R R R RENUNENUNENUNENUNENUNCIACIACIACIACIATIONTIONTIONTIONTION

Disciple: What is the highest goal of spiritual experiencefor man?

Maharshi: Self-realization.

D: Can a married man realise the Self?

M: Certainly. Married or unmarried, a man can realisethe Self; because That is here and now. If it were notso, but attainable by some effort at some time, andif it were new and had to be acquired, it would notbe worth pursuit. Because, what is not natural is notpermanent either. But what I say is that the Self ishere and now, and alone.

D: A salt-doll diving into the sea will not be protectedby a waterproof coat. This world in which we haveto toil day in and day out is like the ocean.

M: Yes, the mind is the waterproof coat.

D: So then, one may be engaged in work and, freefrom desire, keep up one’s solitude? But life’s dutiesallow little time to sit in meditation or even to pray.

M: Yes. Work performed with attachment is a shackle,whereas work performed with detachment does not

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affect the doer. He is, even while working, in solitude.To engage in your duty is the true namaskar..... andabiding in God is the only true asana.

D: Should I not renounce my home?

M: If that had been your destiny the question wouldnot have arisen.

D: Why then did you leave your home in your youth?

M: Nothing happens except by Divine dispensation.One’s course of conduct in this life is determined byone’s prarabdha.

D: Is it good to devote all my time to the search for theSelf? If that is impossible, should I merely keep quiet?

M: If you can keep quiet, without engaging in any otherpursuit, it is very good: If that cannot be done, whereis the use of being quiet so far as realization isconcerned? So long as a person is obliged to beactive, let him not give up attempts to realise theSelf.

D: Do not one’s actions affect one in after-births?

M: Are you born now? Why do you think of otherbirths? The fact is, there is neither birth nor death.Let him who is born think of death and the palliativethereof!

D: Can you show us the dead?

M: Did you know your kinsmen before their birth thatyou should seek to know them after their death?

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Maharshi’s Gospel4

D: How does a grihastha fare in the scheme of moksha?Should he not necessarily become a mendicant inorder to attain liberation?

M: Why do you think you are a grihastha? Similarthoughts that you are a sannyasin will haunt you,even if you go out as a sannyasin. Whether youcontinue in the household or renounce it and go tothe forest, your mind haunts you. The ego is thesource of thought. It creates the body and the world,and it makes you think of being the grihastha. If yourenounce, it will only substitute the thought ofsannyasa for that of grihastha, and the environmentof the forest for that of the household. But the mentalobstacles are always there for you. They even increasegreatly in the new surroundings. It is no help tochange the environment. The one obstacle is themind; it must be got over whether in the home or inthe forest. If you can do it in the forest, why not inthe home? Therefore, why change the environment?Your efforts can be made even now, whatever be theenvironment.

D: Is it possible to enjoy samadhi while busy in worldlywork?

M: The feeling ‘I work’ is the hindrance. Ask yourself‘who works?’ Remember who you are. Then the workwill not bind you; it will go on automatically. Makeno effort either to work or to renounce; your effort isthe bondage. What is destined to happen will happen.

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If you are destined not to work, work cannot be hadeven if you hunt for it; if you are destined to work,you will not be able to avoid it; you will be forced toengage yourself in it. So, leave it to the higher power;you cannot renounce or retain as you choose.

D: Bhagavan said yesterday that while one is engagedin search of God ‘within’, ‘outer’ work would go onautomatically. In the life of Sri Chaitanya it is saidthat during his lectures to students he was reallyseeking Krishna (Self ) within, forgot all about hisbody and went on talking of Krishna only. Thisraises a doubt whether work can safely be left toitself. Should one keep part-attention on the physicalwork?

M: The Self is all. Are you apart from the Self? Or canthe work go on without the Self? The Self is universal:so, all actions will go on whether you strain yourselfto be engaged in them or not. The work will go onof itself. Thus Krishna told Arjuna that he need nottrouble to kill the Kauravas; they were already slainby God. It was not for him to resolve to work andworry himself about it, but to allow his own natureto carry out the will of the higher power.

D: But the work may suffer if I do not attend to it.

M: Attending to the Self means attending to the work.Because you identify yourself with the body, youthink that work is done by you. But the body andits activities, including that work, are not apart from

Work and Renunciation

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the Self. What does it matter whether you attend tothe work or not? Suppose you walk from one placeto another: you do not attend to the steps you take.Yet you find yourself after a time at your goal. Yousee how the business of walking goes on withoutyour attending to it. So also with other kinds ofwork.

D: It is then like sleep-walking.

M: Like somnambulism? Quite so. When a child is fastasleep, his mother feeds him; the child eats the foodjust as well as when he is fully awake. But the nextmorning he says to the mother, “Mother, I did nottake food last night”. The mother and others knowthat he did, but he says that he did not; he was notaware. Still the action had gone on.

A traveller in a cart has fallen asleep. The bulls move,stand still or are unyoked during the journey. Hedoes not know these events but finds himself in adifferent place after he wakes up. He has beenblissfully ignorant of the occurrences on the way,but the journey has been finished. Similarly withthe Self of a person. The ever-wakeful Self iscompared to the traveller asleep in the cart. Thewaking state is the moving of the bulls; samadhi istheir standing still (because samadhi means jagrat-sushupti, that is to say, the person is aware but notconcerned in the action; the bulls are yoked but donot move); sleep is the unyoking of the bulls, for

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there is complete stopping of activity correspondingto the relief of the bulls from the yoke.

Or again, take the instance of the cinema. Scenesare projected on the screen in the cinema-show. Butthe moving pictures do not affect or alter the screen.The spectator pays attention to them, not to thescreen. They cannot exist apart from the screen, yetthe screen is ignored. So also, the Self is the screenwhere the pictures, activities etc. are seen going on.The man is aware of the latter but not aware of theessential former. All the same the world of picturesis not apart from the Self. Whether he is aware ofthe screen or unaware, the actions will continue.

D: But there is an operator in the cinema!

M: The cinema-show is made out of insentientmaterials. The lamp, the pictures, the screen etc.,are all insentient and so they need an operator, thesentient agent. On the other hand, the Self isabsolute consciousness, and therefore self-contained.There cannot be an operator apart from the Self.

D: I am not confusing the body with the operator;rather, I am referring to Krishna’s words in the 61stverse, Chapter XVIII of the Gita.

$ñr> svRÉUtana< ùÎeze=juRn itóit,æamyNsvRÉUtain yNvatuFain mayya.1

1 “The Lord, O Arjuna, dwells in the Heart of every being, and He by Hisdelusive power spins round all beings set as if on a machine”.

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M: The functions of the body involving the need for anoperator, are borne in mind; since the body is jadaor insentient, a sentient operator is necessary.Because people think that they are jivas, Krishnasaid that God resides in the heart as the operator ofthe jivas. In fact, there are no jivas and no operator,as it were, outside them; the Self comprises all. It isthe screen, the pictures, the seer, the actors, theoperator, the light, the theatre and all else. Yourconfounding the Self with the body and imaginingyourself the actor, is like the seer representing himselfas an actor in the cinema-show. Imagine the actorasking if he can enact a scene without the screen ! Suchis the case of the man who thinks of his actionsapart from the Self.

D: On the other hand, it is like asking the spectator to actin the cinema-picture. So, we must learn sleep-waking!

M: Actions and states are according to one’s point ofview. A crow, an elephant, a snake, each makesuse of one limb for two alternate purposes. Withone eye the crow looks on either side; for theelephant the trunk serves the purpose of both ahand and a nose, and the serpent sees as well ashears with its eyes. Whether you say the crow hasan eye or eyes, or refer to the trunk of the elephantas ‘hand’ or ‘nose’ or call the eyes of the serpentits ears, it means all the same. Similarly in thecase of the jnani, sleep-waking or waking-sleep

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or dream-sleep or dreaming-wakefulness, are allmuch the same thing.

D: But we have to deal with a physical body in a physical,waking world! If we sleep while work is going on, ortry to work while asleep, the work will go wrong.

M: Sleep is not ignorance, it is one’s pure state;wakefulness is not knowledge, it is ignorance. Thereis full awareness in sleep and total ignorance inwaking. Your real nature covers both and extendsbeyond. The Self is beyond both knowledge andignorance. Sleep, dream and waking states are onlymodes passing before the Self: they proceed whetheryou are aware of them or not. That is the state of thejnani, in whom pass the states of samadhi, waking,dream and deep sleep, like the bulls moving,standing, or being unyoked, while the passenger isasleep. These answers are from the point of view ofthe ajnani; otherwise such questions would not arise.

D: Of course, they cannot arise for the Self. Who wouldbe there to ask? But unfortunately, I have not yetrealised the Self!

M: That is just the obstacle in your way. You must getrid of the idea that you are an ajnani and have yet torealise the Self. You are the Self. Was there ever atime when you were not aware of that Self?

D: So, we must experiment in sleep-waking ..... or inday-dreaming?

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M: (Laughs).

D: I maintain that the physical body of the manimmersed in samadhi as a result of the unbroken‘contemplation’2 of the Self, may become motionlessfor that reason. It may be active or inactive. Themind established in such ‘contemplation’ will notbe affected by the movements of the body or thesenses; nor is disturbance of the mind the forerunnerof physical activity. Whereas another person assertsthat physical activity certainly prevents samadhi orunbroken ‘contemplation’. What is Bhagavan’sopinion? You are the abiding proof of my statement.

M: Both of you are right: you refer to sahaja nirvikalpasamadhi and the other refers to kevala nirvikalpasamadhi. In the latter case the mind lies immersedin the light of the Self (whereas, the mind lies in thedarkness of ignorance in deep sleep); and the subjectmakes a distinction between samadhi and activityafter waking up from samadhi. Moreover, activityof the body, of the sight, of the vital forces and ofthe mind and the cognisance of objects, all these areobstructions for one who seeks to realise kevalanirvikalpa samadhi.

2 The word, contemplation, is often used loosely as referring to a forcedmental process, whereas samadhi lies beyond effort. However, in thelanguage of Christian mysticism “contemplation” is the synonym invariablyused for samadhi, and it is in this sense the word is used above.

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In sahaja samadhi, however, the mind has resolvedinto the Self and has been lost. The differences andobstructions mentioned above do not, therefore,exist here. The activities of such a being are likethe feeding of a somnolent boy, perceptible to theonlooker but not to the subject. The travellersleeping in the moving cart is not aware of themotion of the cart, because his mind is sunk indarkness. Whereas, the sahaja jnani remainsunaware of his bodily activities because his mind isdead, having been resolved into the ecstasy ofchidananda (bliss of the Self ).

Note: The distinction between sleep, kevalanirvikalpa samadhi and sahaja nirvikalpa samadhican be clearly put in a tabular form as given bySri Bhagavan:

Sahaja NirvikalpaSamadhi

Kevala NirvikalpaSamadhi

Sleep

1) mind alive 1) mind alive 1) mind dead

2) sunk in oblivion 2) sunk in Light 2) resolved into theSelf

3) like a bucket tied 3) like a river dis-to a rope and left charged into thelying in the water ocean and itsin a well identity lost

4) to be drawn out by 4) a river cannot bethe other end of redirected fromthe rope the ocean

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The mind of the Sage who has realized the Self iswholly destroyed. It is dead. But to the onlooker, hemay seem to possess a mind just like the layman.Hence the ‘I’ in the Sage has merely an apparent‘objective reality’. In fact however, it has neither asubjective existence nor an objective reality.

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IIIIIIIIIISSSSSILENCEILENCEILENCEILENCEILENCE ANDANDANDANDAND S S S S SOLITUDEOLITUDEOLITUDEOLITUDEOLITUDE

D: Is a vow of silence useful?

M: The inner silence is self-surrender. And that is livingwithout the sense of ego.

D: Is solitude necessary for a sannyasin?

M: Solitude is in the mind of a man. One might be inthe thick of the world and yet maintain perfectserenity of mind; such a person is always in solitude.Another may stay in the forest, but still be unable tocontrol his mind. He cannot be said to be in solitude.Solitude is an attitude of the mind; a man attachedto the things of life cannot get solitude, wherever hemay be. A detached man is always in solitude.

D: What is mauna?

M: That state which transcends speech and thought ismauna; it is meditation without mental activity.Subjugation of the mind is meditation; deepmeditation is eternal speech. Silence is ever-speaking;it is the perennial flow of ‘language’. It is interruptedby speaking; for words obstruct this mute ‘language’.Lectures may entertain individuals for hours withoutimproving them. Silence, on the other hand, ispermanent and benefits the whole of humanity. . . .

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. . By silence, eloquence is meant. Oral lectures arenot so eloquent as silence. Silence is unceasingeloquence. . . . It is the best language.

There is a state when words cease and silence prevails.

D: How then can we communicate our thoughts toone another?

M: That becomes necessary if the sense of dualityexists....

D: Why does not Bhagavan go about and preach theTruth to the people at large?

M: How do you know I am not doing it? Does preachingconsist in mounting a platform and haranguing thepeople around? Preaching is simple communicationof knowledge; it can really be done in silence only.What do you think of a man who listens to a sermonfor an hour and goes away without having beenimpressed by it so as to change his life? Comparehim with another, who sits in a holy presence andgoes away after sometime with his outlook on lifetotally changed. Which is the better, to preach loudlywithout effect or to sit silently sending out innerforce?

Again, how does speech arise? There is abstractknowledge, whence arises the ego, which in turngives rise to thought, and thought to the spokenword. So the word is the great-grandson of theoriginal source. If the word can produce effect, judge

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for yourself, how much more powerful must be thepreaching through silence! But people do notunderstand this simple, bare truth, the truth of theireveryday, ever-present, eternal experience. This truthis that of the Self. Is there anyone unaware of theSelf? But they do not like even to hear of this truth,whereas they are eager to know what lies beyond,about heaven, hell and reincarnation.

Because they love mystery and not the truth, religionscater to them so as eventually to bring them roundto the Self. Whatever be the means adopted, youmust at last return to the Self: so why not abide inthe Self here and now? To be a spectator of, or tospeculate about the other world, the Self is necessary;therefore, they are not different from the Self. Eventhe ignorant man when he sees the objects, seesonly the Self.

Silence and Solitude

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IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMINDINDINDINDIND C C C C CONTROLONTROLONTROLONTROLONTROL

D: How can I control the mind?

M: There is no mind to control if the Self is realised.The Self shines forth when the mind vanishes. Inthe realised man the mind may be active or inactive,the Self alone exists. For, the mind, body and worldare not separate from the Self; and they cannotremain apart from the Self. Can they be other thanthe Self? When aware of the Self why should oneworry about these shadows? How do they affect theSelf?

D: If the mind is merely a shadow how then is one toknow the Self?

M: The Self is the heart, self-luminous. Illuminationarises from the heart and reaches the brain, which isthe seat of the mind. The world is seen with themind; so you see the world by the reflected light ofthe Self. The world is perceived by an act of themind. When the mind is illumined it is aware of theworld; when it is not so illumined, it is not aware ofthe world.

If the mind is turned in, towards the source ofillumination, objective knowledge ceases, and theSelf alone shines as the heart.

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The moon shines by reflecting the light of the sun.When the sun has set, the moon is useful fordisplaying objects. When the sun has risen no oneneeds the moon, though its disc is visible in the sky.So it is with the mind and the heart. The mind ismade useful by its reflected light. It is used for seeingobjects. When turned inwards, it merges into thesource of illumination which shines by Itself and themind is then like the moon in the daytime.

When it is dark, a lamp is necessary to give light.But when the sun has arisen, there is no need for thelamp; the objects are visible. And to see the sun nolamp is necessary; it is enough if you turn your eyestowards the self-luminous sun. Similarly with themind; to see the objects the light reflected from themind is necessary. To see the heart it is enough thatthe mind is turned towards it. Then the mind doesnot count and the heart is self-effulgent.

D: After leaving this Ashram in October, I was awareof the Presence that prevails in Sri Bhagavan’spresence enfolding me for about ten days. All thetime, while busy in my work, there was anundercurrent of that peace in unity; it was almostlike the dual consciousness which one experienceswhile half-asleep in a dull lecture. Then, it fadedout entirely, and the old stupidities came in instead.Work leaves no time for separate meditation. Is itenough constantly reminding oneself ‘I AM’, whileat work?

Mind Control

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M: (After a short pause). If you strengthen the mind,that peace will continue for all time. Its duration isproportional to the strength of mind acquired byrepeated practice. And such a mind is able to holdon to the current. In that case, engagement or noengagement in work, the current remainsunaffected and uninterrupted. It is not the workthat hinders but the idea that it is you who aredoing it.

D: Is a set meditation necessary for strengthening themind?

M: Not if you keep the idea always before you that it isnot your work. At first, effort is needed to remindyourself of it, but later on it becomes natural andcontinuous. The work will go on of its own accord,and your peace will remain undisturbed.

Meditation is your true nature. You call itmeditation now, because there are other thoughtsdistracting you. When these thoughts are dispelled,you remain alone — that is, in the state ofmeditation free from thoughts; and that is yourreal nature, which you are now trying to gain bykeeping away other thoughts. Such keeping awayof other thoughts is now called meditation. Butwhen the practice becomes firm, the real natureshows itself as true meditation.

D: Other thoughts arise more forcibly when oneattempts meditation!

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M: Yes, all kinds of thought arise in meditation. That isonly right; for what lies hidden in you is broughtout. Unless it rises up, how can it be destroyed?Thoughts rise up spontaneously, as it were, but onlyto be extinguished in due course, thus strengtheningthe mind.

D: There are times when persons and things take avague, almost a transparent form, as in a dream.One ceases to observe them as outside, but is passivelyconscious of their existence, while not activelyconscious of any kind of selfhood. There is a deepquietness in the mind. Is it at such times that one isready to dive into the Self? Or is this conditionunhealthy, the result of self-hypnotism? Should it beencouraged as yielding temporary peace?

M: There is Consciousness along with quietness in themind; this is exactly the state to be aimed at. Thefact that the question has been framed on this point,without realizing that it is the Self, shows that thestate is not steady but casual.

The word ‘diving’ is appropriate when there areoutgoing tendencies, and when, therefore, the mindhas to be directed and turned within, there is a dipbelow the surface of externalities. But when quietnessprevails without obstructing the Consciousness,where is the need to dive? If that state has not beenrealised as the Self, the effort to do so may be called‘diving’. In this sense the state may be said to be

Mind Control

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suitable for realization or diving. Thus, the last twoquestions you have put do not arise.

D: The mind continues to feel partial towards childrenpossibly because the form of a child is often used topersonify the Ideal. How can this preference beoutgrown?

M: Hold on to the Self. Why think of children and ofyour reactions towards them?

D: This third visit to Tiruvannamalai seems to haveintensified the sense of egoism in me and mademeditation less easy. Is this an unimportant passingphase or a sign that I should avoid such placeshereafter?

M: It is imaginary. This place or another is within you.Such imaginations must end; for places as such havenothing to do with the activities of the mind. Alsoyour surroundings are not merely a matter of yourindividual choice; they are there, as a matter ofcourse; and you should rise above them and not getyourself entangled in them.

(A boy of eight and a half years sat in the hall at about fivein the evening, when Sri Bhagavan went up theHill. During His absence, the boy spoke on yogaand Vedanta in pure, simple and literary Tamil,quoting freely from the sayings of saints and thesacred scriptures. When Sri Bhagavan entered thehall, after nearly three-quarters of an hour, only

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silence prevailed. For the twenty minutes the boysat in Sri Bhagavan’s presence, he spoke not a wordbut was merely gazing at Him. Then tears flowedfrom his eyes. He wiped them with his left handand soon after left the place saying that he still awaitsSelf-realization).

D: How should we explain the extraordinarycharacteristics ofthe boy?

M: The characteristics of his last birth are strong in him.But however strong they may be, they do notmanifest themselves save in a calm, still mind. It iswithin the experience of all, that attempts to revivememory sometimes fail, while something flashes intothe mind when it is calm and quiet.

D: How can the rebellious mind be made calm andtranquil?

M: Either see its source so that it may disappear, orsurrender yourself so that it may be struck down.Self-surrender is the same as Self-knowledge, andeither of them necessarily implies self-control. Theego submits only when it recognises theHigher Power.

D: How can I escape from samsara which seems to bethe real cause for making the mind restless? Is notrenunciation an effective means to realise tranquillityof mind?

Mind Control

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M: Samsara is only in your mind. The world does notspeak out saying, ‘Here I am, the world’. If it did so,it would be ever there, making its presence felt byyou even in your sleep. Since, however, it is notthere in sleep, it is impermanent. Beingimpermanent, it lacks substance. Having no realityapart from the Self it is easily subdued by the Self.The Self alone is permanent. Renunciation is thenon-identification of the Self with the not-Self.When the ignorance which identifies the Self withnot-Self is removed, not-Self ceases to exist, andthat is true renunciation.

D: Can we not perform actions without attachmenteven in the absence of such renunciation?

M: An atma jnani alone can be a good karma yogi.

D: Does Bhagavan condemn dvaita Philosophy?

M: Dvaita can subsist only when you identify the Selfwith the not-Self. Advaita is non-identification.

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IVIVIVIVIVBBBBBHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKTITITITITI ANDANDANDANDAND J J J J JNNNNNANANANANANAAAAA

D: Sri Bhagavata outlines a way to find Krishna inthe heart by prostrating to all and looking on allas the Lord Himself. Is this the right path leadingto Self-realization? Is it not easier thus to adoreBhagavan in whatever meets the ‘mind’, than toseek the supramental through the mental enquiry,Who am I?

M: Yes, when you see God in all, do you think of Godor do you not? You must certainly think of God forseeing God all round you. Keeping God in yourmind becomes dhyana and dhyana is the stage beforeRealization. Realization can only be in and of theSelf. It can never be apart from the Self: and dhyanamust precede it. Whether you make dhyana on Godor on the Self, it is immaterial; for the goal is thesame. You cannot, by any means, escape the Self.You want to see God in all, but not in yourself? If allis God, are you not included in that all? Being Godyourself, is it a wonder that all is God? This is themethod advised in Sri Bhagavata, and elsewhere byothers. But even for this practice there must be theseer or thinker. Who is he?

D: How to see God who is all-pervasive?

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M: To see God is to be God. There is no ‘all’ apart fromGod for Him to pervade. He alone is.

D: Should we read Gita now and then?

M: Always.

D: What is the relation between jnana and bhakti?

M: The eternal, unbroken, natural state of abiding inthe Self is jnana. To abide in the Self you must lovethe Self. Since God is verily the Self, love of the Selfis love of God; and that is bhakti. Jnana and bhaktiare thus one and the same.

D: While doing nama japa for an hour or more I fallinto a state like sleep. On waking up I recollect thatmy japa has been interrupted. So, I try again.

M: ‘Like sleep’, that is right. It is the natural state.Because you are now associated with the ego, youconsider that the natural state is something whichinterrupts your work. So you must have theexperience repeated until you realise that it is yournatural state. You will then find that japa isextraneous but still it will go on automatically.Your present doubt is due to that false identity,namely of identifying yourself with the mind thatdoes the japa. Japa means clinging to one thoughtto the exclusion of all other thoughts. That is itspurpose. It leads to dhyana which ends in Self-realization or jnana.

D: How should I carry on nama japa?

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M: One should not use the name of God mechanicallyand superficially without the feeling of devotion.To use the name of God one must call upon Himwith yearning and unreservedly surrender oneself toHim. Only after such surrender is the name of Godconstantly with the man.

D: Where is, then, the need for enquiry or vichara?

M: Surrender can take effect only when it is done withfull knowledge as to what real surrender means. Suchknowledge comes after enquiry and reflection andends invariably in self-surrender. There is nodifference between jnana and absolute surrender tothe Lord, that is, in thought, word and deed. To becomplete, surrender must be unquestioning; thedevotee cannot bargain with the Lord or demandfavours at His hands. Such entire surrender comprisesall; it is jnana and vairagya, devotion and love.

Bhakti and Jnana

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D: Does not death dissolve the individuality of a person,so that there can be no rebirth, just as the riversdischarged into the ocean lose their individualities?

M: But when the waters evaporate and return as rain onthe hills, they once more flow in the form of riversand fall into the ocean; so also the individualitiesduring sleep lose their separateness and yet return asindividuals according to their samskaras or pasttendencies. Even so it is in death; and the individualityof the person with samskaras is not lost.

D: How can that be?

M: See how a tree whose branches have been cut, growsagain. So long as the roots of the tree remainunimpaired, the tree will continue to grow. Similarly,the samskaras which have merely sunk into the hearton death, but have not perished for that reason,occasion rebirth at the right time; and that is howjivas are reborn.

D: How could the innumerable jivas and the wideuniverse whose existence is correlative to that of thejivas, sprout up from such subtle samskaras sunk inthe heart?

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M: Just as the big banyan tree sprouts from a tiny seed,so do the jivas and the whole universe with nameand form sprout up from the subtle samskaras.

D: How does individuality emanate from the AbsoluteSelf, and how is its return made possible?

M: As a spark proceeds from fire, individuality emanatesfrom the Absolute Self. The spark is called the ego.In the case of the ajnani, the ego identifies itselfwith some object simultaneously with its rise. Itcannot remain without such association withobjects.

This association is due to ajnana, whose destruction isthe objective of one’s efforts. If this tendency toidentify itself with objects is destroyed, the egobecomes pure and then it also merges into its source.The false identification of oneself with the body isdehatma-buddhi or ‘I-am-the-body’-idea. This mustgo before good results can follow.

D: How am I to eradicate it?

M: You exist in sushupti without being associated withthe body and the mind, but in the other two statesyou are associated with them. If you were one withthe body, how could you exist without the body insushupti? You can separate yourself from what isexternal to you but not from that which is one withyou. Hence the ego cannot be one with the body.This must be realised in the waking state. The threestates are studied in order to gain this knowledge.

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D: How can the ego which is confined to two of thestates endeavour to realise That which comprises allthe three states?

M: The ego in its purity is experienced in the intervalsbetween two states or between two thoughts. Theego is like the worm which leaves one hold onlyafter it catches another. Its true nature is knownwhen it is out of contact with objects or thoughts.You should realise this interval as the abiding,unchangeable Reality, your true Being, through theconviction gained by the study of the three states,jagrat, svapna and sushupti.

D: Can I not remain in sushupti as long as I like andalso be in it at will, just as I am in the waking state?What is the jnani’s experience of these three states?

M: Sushupti does exist in your waking state also. Youare in sushupti even now. That should be consciouslyentered into and reached in this very waking state.There is no real going in and coming out of it. Tobe aware of sushupti in the jagrat state is jagrat-sushuptiand that is samadhi.

The ajnani cannot remain long in sushupti, becausehe is forced by his nature to emerge from it. His egois not dead and it will rise again and again. But thejnani crushes the ego at its source. It may seem toemerge at times in his case also as if impelled byprarabdha. That is, in the case of the jnani also, for alloutward purposes prarabdha would seem to sustain

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or keep up the ego, as in the case of the ajnani; butthere is this fundamental difference, that the ajnani’sego when it rises up (really it has subsided except indeep sleep) is quite ignorant of its source; in otherwords, the ajnani is not aware of his sushupti in hisdream and waking states; in the case of the jnani, onthe contrary, the rise or existence of the ego is onlyapparent, and he enjoys his unbroken, transcendentalexperience in spite of such apparent rise or existenceof the ego, keeping his attention (lakshya) always onthe Source. This ego is harmless; it is merely like theskeleton of a burnt rope — though with a form, it isuseless to tie up anything. By constantly keeping one’sattention on the Source, the ego is dissolved in thatSource like a salt-doll in the sea.

D: What is the significance of the Crucifixion?

M: The body is the cross. Jesus, the son of man, is theego or ‘I-am-the-body’-idea. When the son of manis crucified on the cross, the ego perishes, and whatsurvives is the Absolute Being. It is the resurrectionof the glorious Self, of the Christ — the son of God.

D: But how is crucifixion justified? Is not killing aterrible crime?

M: Everyone is committing suicide. The eternal, blissful,natural state has been smothered by this ignorantlife. In this way the present life is due to the killingof the eternal, positive existence. Is it not really acase of suicide? So, why worry about killing etc.?

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D: Sri Ramakrishna says that nirvikalpa samadhi cannotlast longer than twenty-one days; if persisted in, theperson dies. Is this a fact?

M: When the prarabdha is exhausted, the ego iscompletely dissolved, without leaving any tracebehind. This is the final liberation (nirvana). Unlessprarabdha is exhausted, the ego will rise up as it mayappear to do in the case of jivanmuktas.

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SSSSSELFELFELFELFELF-R-R-R-R-REALISEALISEALISEALISEALISAAAAATIONTIONTIONTIONTION

D: How can I attain Self-realization?

M: Realization is nothing to be gained afresh, it is alreadythere. All that is necessary is to get rid of the thought‘I have not realised’.

Stillness or peace is Realization. There is no momentwhen the Self is not. So long as there is doubt or thefeeling of non-realization, the attempt should bemade to rid oneself of these thoughts. They are dueto the identification of the Self with the not-Self.When the not-Self disappears, the Self alone remains.To make room, it is enough that the cramping beremoved; room is not brought in from elsewhere.

D: Since Realization is not possible without vasana-kshaya, how am I to realise that State in which thevasanas are effectively destroyed?

M: You are in that State now!

D: Does it mean that by holding on to the Self, thevasanas should be destroyed as and when theyemerge?

M: They will themselves be destroyed if you remain asyou are.

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D: How shall I reach the Self?

M: There is no reaching the Self. If Self were to be reached,it would mean that the Self is not here and now butthat it is yet to be obtained. What is got afresh willalso be lost. So it will be impermanent. What is notpermanent is not worth striving for. So I say the Selfis not reached. You are the Self; you are already That.

The fact is, you are ignorant of your blissful state.Ignorance supervenes and draws a veil over the pureSelf which is Bliss. Attempts are directed only toremove this veil of ignorance which is merely wrongknowledge. The wrong knowledge is the falseidentification of the Self with the body, mind etc.This False identification must go, and then the Selfalone remains.

Therefore Realization is for everyone; Realizationmakes no difference between the aspirants. This verydoubt, whether you can realise, and the notion ‘I-have-not-realised’ are themselves the obstacles. Befree from these obstacles also.

D: What is the use of samadhi and does thought subsistthen?

M: Samadhi alone can reveal the Truth. Thoughts cast aveil over Reality, and so It is not realised as such instates other than samadhi.

In samadhi there is only the feeling ‘I AM’ and nothoughts. The experience ‘I AM’ is being still.

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D: How can I repeat the experience of samadhi or thestillness that I obtain here?

M: Your present experience is due to the influence of theatmosphere in which you find yourself. Can you haveit outside this atmosphere? The experience is spasmodic.Until it becomes permanent, practice is necessary.

D: One has at times vivid flashes of a consciousnesswhose centre is outside the normal self, and whichseems to be all-inclusive. Without concerningourselves with philosophical concepts, how wouldBhagavan advise me to work towards getting,retaining and extending those rare flashes? Doesabhyasa in such experience involve retirement?

M: Outside! For whom is the inside or outside? Thesecan exist only so long as there are the subject andobject. For whom are these two again? Oninvestigation you will find that they resolve into thesubject only. See who is the subject; and this enquiryleads you to pure Consciousness beyond the subject.

The normal self is the mind. This mind is withlimitations. But pure Consciousness is beyondlimitations, and is reached by investigation as aboveoutlined.

Getting: The Self is always there. You have only to removethe veil obstructing the revelation of the Self.

Retaining: Once you realise the Self, it becomes your directand immediate experience. It is never lost.

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Extending: There is no extending of the Self, for it is asever, without contraction or expansion.

Retirement: Abiding in the Self is solitude. Because thereis nothing alien to the Self. Retirement must befrom some one place or state to another. There isneither the one nor the other apart from the Self. Allbeing the Self, retirement is impossible andinconceivable.

Abhyasa is only the prevention of disturbance to theinherent peace. You are always in your natural Statewhether you do abhyasa or not.... To remain as youare, without question or doubt, is your natural State.

D: On realizing samadhi, does not one obtain siddhisalso?

M: In order to display siddhis, there must be others torecognise them. That means, there is no jnana in theone who displays them. Therefore, siddhis are not wortha thought; jnana alone is to be aimed at and gained.

D: Does my Realization help others?

M: Yes, and it is the best help that you can possibly renderto others. Those who have discovered great truths havedone so in the still depths of the Self. But really thereare no ‘others’ to be helped. For, the Realised Beingsees only the Self, just as the goldsmith sees only thegold while valuing it in various jewels made of gold.When you identify yourself with the body, name andform are there. But when you transcend the body-

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consciousness, the ‘others’ also disappear. The Realisedone does not see the world as different from Himself.

D: Would it not be better if the saints mix with others?

M: There are no ‘others’ to mix with. The Self is theonly Reality.

D: Should I not try to help the suffering world?

M: The Power that created you has created the world aswell. If it can take care of you, it can similarly takecare of the world also .... if God has created theworld, it is His business to look after it, not yours.

D: Is it not our duty to be patriots?

M: Your duty is to be and not, to be this or that. ‘I AMTHAT I AM’ sums up the whole truth; the methodis summarised in ‘be still’.

And what does stillness mean? It means ‘destroy yourself ’;because, every name and form is the cause of trouble.‘I-I’ is the Self. ‘I am this’ is the ego. When the ‘I’ iskept up as the ‘I’ only, it is the Self. When it flies offat a tangent and says ‘I am this or that, I am suchand such’, it is the ego.

D: Who then is God?

M: The Self is God. ‘I AM’ is God. If God be apart fromthe Self, He must be a Selfless God, which is absurd.All that is required to realise the Self is to be still.What can be easier than that? Hence atma vidya isthe easiest to attain.

Self-Realisation

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D: What is guru kripa? How does it lead to Self-realization?

M: Guru is the Self.... Sometimes in his life a manbecomes dissatisfied with it, and, not content withwhat he has, he seeks the satisfaction of his desires,through prayer to God etc. His mind is graduallypurified until he longs to know God, more to obtainHis grace than to satisfy his worldly desires. Then,God’s grace begins to manifest. God takes the formof a Guru and appears to the devotee, teaches himthe Truth and, moreover, purifies his mind byassociation. The devotee’s mind gains strength andis then able to turn inward. By meditation it is furtherpurified and it remains still without the least ripple.That calm expanse is the Self.

The Guru is both ‘external’ and ‘internal’. From the‘exterior’ he gives a push to the mind to turn inward;from the ‘interior’ He pulls the mind towards theSelf and helps in the quieting of the mind. That isguru kripa. There is no difference between God,Guru and the Self.

D: In the Theosophical Society they meditate in orderto seek Masters to guide them.

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M: The Master is within. Meditation is meant to removethe ignorant idea that He is only outside. If He bea stranger whom you await, He is bound to disappearalso. Where is the use for a transient being like that?But as long as you think you are separate or that youare the body, so long is the Master ‘without’ alsonecessary, and He will appear as if with a body. Whenthe wrong identification of oneself with the bodyceases, the Master will be found as none other thanthe Self.

D: Will the Guru help us to know the Self throughinitiation etc.?

M: Does the Guru hold you by the hand and whisper inthe ear? You may imagine him to be what you areyourself. Because you think you are with a body,you think He also has a body to do somethingtangible for you. His work lies within, in thespiritual realm.

D: How is the Guru found?

M: God, who is immanent, in His grace takes pity onthe loving devotee and manifests Himself accordingto the devotee’s development. The devotee thinksthat He is a man and expects a relationship asbetween two physical bodies. But the Guru, who isGod or the Self incarnate, works from within, helpsthe man to see the error of his ways and guides himin the right path until he realises the Self within.

D: What should the devotee do then?

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M: He has only to act up to the words of the Masterand work within. The Master is both ‘within’ and‘without’, so He creates conditions to drive youinward and at the same time prepares the ‘interior’to drag you to the Centre. Thus He gives a pushfrom ‘without’ and exerts a pull from ‘within’, sothat you may be fixed at the Centre.

You think that the world can be conquered by your ownefforts. When you are frustrated externally and aredriven inwards, you feel ‘Oh! there is a Power higherthan man!’

The ego is like a very powerful elephant which cannot bebrought under control by any less powerful than alion, which, in this instance, is no other than theGuru, whose very look makes the elephant-like egotremble and die.

You will know in due course that your glory lies whereyou cease to exist. In order to gain that state, youshould surrender yourself. Then the Master sees thatyou are in a fit state to receive guidance, and Heguides you.

D: How can the silence of the Guru, who gives noinitiation nor does any other tangible act, be morepowerful than His word etc.? How is such silencebetter than the study of scriptures?

M: Silence is the most potent form of work. Howevervast and emphatic the scriptures may be, they fail in

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their effect. The Guru is quiet and Grace prevails inall. This silence is more vast and more emphaticthan all the scriptures put together.

D: But can the devotee obtain happiness?

M: The devotee surrenders himself to the Master and itmeans that there is no vestige of individuality retainedby him. If the surrender is complete, all sense of selfis lost, and then there can be no misery or sorrow.

The eternal Being is nothing but happiness. That comesas a revelation.

D: How can I obtain Grace?

M: Grace is the Self. That also is not to be acquired;you only need to know that it exists.

The sun is brightness only. It does not see darkness. Yetyou speak of darkness fleeing on the sun’s approach.So also the devotee’s ignorance, like the phantom ofdarkness, vanishes at the look of the Guru. You aresurrounded by sunlight; yet if you want to see thesun, you must turn in its direction and look at it. Soalso Grace is found by the proper approach you make,though it is here and now.

D: Cannot Grace hasten ripeness in the seeker?

M: Leave it all to the Master. Surrender to Him withoutreserve.

One of two things must be done: either surrender yourself,because you realise your inability and need a higher

Guru and His Grace

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power to help you; or investigate into the cause ofmisery, go into the Source and so merge in the Self.Either way, you will be free from misery. God orGuru never forsakes the devotee who has surrenderedhimself.

D: What is the significance of prostration to the Guruor God?

M: Prostration signifies the subsidence of the ego, andit means merging into the Source. God or Gurucannot be deceived by outward genuflexions, bowingand prostrations. He sees whether the ego is thereor not.

D: Will not Bhagavan give me some prasad from Hisleaf as a mark of His Grace?

M: Eat without thinking of the ego. Then what you eatbecomes Bhagavan’s prasad.

D: Is not the literate man better qualified forEnlightenment in the sense that he stands in noneed of guru kripa?

M: Even a learned man must bow before the illiteratesage. Illiteracy is ignorance and education is learnedignorance. Both are ignorant of the true aim. TheSage is ignorant in a different line. He is ignorantbecause there is no ‘other’ for Him.

D: Is it not to obtain the Guru’s Grace that presents areoffered to Him? So, the visitors offer presents toBhagavan.

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M: Why do they bring presents? Do I want them? Evenif I refuse, they thrust the presents on me! What for?Is it not like giving a bait to catch the fish? Is theangler anxious to feed them? No, he is anxious tofeed on the fish!

D: Is the Theosophical idea of giving successiveinitiations before attaining moksha true ?

M: Those who attain moksha in one life must have passedthrough all the initiations in their former lives.

D: Theosophy says that jnanis after death have to choosefour or five lines of work, not necessarily in thisworld. What is Bhagavan’s opinion?

M: Some may take up work, but not all.

D: Are you conscious of a brotherhood of invisibleRishis?

M: If invisible, how can you see them?

D: In consciousness.

M: There is nothing external in Consciousness.

D: Can I realise them?

M: If you realise your own Reality, then that of theRishis and Masters will become clear to you. Thereis only one Master, and that is the Self.

D: Is reincarnation true?

M: Reincarnation exists only so long as there isignorance.

Guru and His Grace

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There is really no reincarnation at all, either now or before.Nor will there be any hereafter. This is the truth.

D: Can a yogi know his past lives?

M: Do you know the present life that you wish to knowthe past? Find the present, then the rest will follow.Even with our present limited knowledge, you sufferso much; why should you burden yourself with moreknowledge? Is it to suffer more?

D: Does Bhagavan use occult powers to make othersrealise the Self, or is the mere fact of Bhagavan’sRealization enough for that?

M: The spiritual force of Self-realization is far morepowerful than the use of all the occult powers.Inasmuch as there is no ego in the Sage, there are no‘others’ for Him. What is the highest benefit thatcan be conferred on you? It is happiness, andhappiness is born of peace. Peace can reign onlywhere there is no disturbance, and disturbance isdue to thoughts that arise in the mind. When themind itself is absent, there will be perfect peace.Unless a person has annihilated the mind, he cannotgain peace and be happy. And unless he himself behappy, he cannot bestow happiness on ‘others’. Sincehowever there are no ‘others’ for the Sage who hasno mind, the mere fact of His Self-realization isitself enough to make the ‘others’ happy.

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D: How can I get peace? I do not seem to obtain itthrough vichara.

M: Peace is your natural state. It is the mind thatobstructs the natural state. Your vichara has beenmade only in the mind. Investigate what the mindis, and it will disappear. There is no such thing asmind apart from thought. Nevertheless, because ofthe emergence of thought, you surmise somethingfrom which it starts and term that the mind. Whenyou probe to see what it is, you find there is reallyno such thing as mind. When the mind has thusvanished, you realise eternal peace.

D: Through poetry, music, japa, bhajana, the sight ofbeautiful landscapes, reading the lines of spiritualverses etc., one experiences sometimes a true senseof all-unity. Is that feeling of deep blissful quiet(wherein the personal self has no place) the same asthe entering into the heart of which Bhagavan speaks?Will practice thereof lead to a deeper samadhi andso ultimately to a full vision of the Real?

M: There is happiness when agreeable things arepresented to the mind. It is the happiness inherentto the Self, and there is no other happiness. And it

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is not alien and afar. You are diving into the Self onthose occasions which you consider pleasurable; thatdiving results in self-existent bliss. But the associationof ideas is responsible for foisting that bliss on otherthings or occurrences while, in fact, that bliss iswithin you. On these occasions you are plunginginto the Self, though unconsciously. If you do soconsciously, with the conviction that comes of theexperience that you are identical with the happinesswhich is verily the Self, the one Reality, you call itRealization. I want you to dive consciously into theSelf, i.e., into the heart.

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BOOK IIBOOK IIBOOK IIBOOK IIBOOK II

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Disciple: How is one to realise the Self?

Maharshi: Whose Self? Find out.

D: Mine, but who am I?

M: Find out yourself.

D: I don’t know how.

M: Just think over the question. Who is it that says “Idon’t know”? Who is the ‘I’ in your statement? Whatis not known?

D: Somebody or something in me.

M: Who is that somebody? In whom?

D: Perhaps some power.

M: Find out.

D: Why was I born?

M: Who was born? The answer is the same to all yourquestions.

D: Who am I, then?

M: (Smiling.) You have come to examine me? You mustsay who you are.

D: However much I may try, I do not seem to catch the‘l’. It is not even clearly discernible.

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M: Who is it that says that the ‘I’ is not discernible? Are theretwo ‘I’s in you that one is not discernible by the other?

D: Instead of enquiring ‘Who am I?’, can I put thequestion to myself ‘Who are You?’, since then, mymind may be fixed on You whom I consider to beGod in the form of Guru. Perhaps, I would be nearerthe goal of my quest by that enquiry than by askingmyself ‘Who am I?’

M: Whatever form your enquiry may take, you mustfinally come to the one I, the Self.

All these distinctions made between the ‘I’ and ‘you’,Master and disciple etc. are merely a sign of one’signorance. The ‘I-Supreme’ alone is. To thinkotherwise is to delude oneself.

A Puranic story of Sage Ribhu and his disciple Nidagha, isparticularly instructive in this context.

Although Ribhu taught his disciple the supreme Truth ofthe One Brahman without a second, Nidagha, inspite of his erudition and understanding, did notget sufficient conviction to adopt and follow thepath of jnana, but settled down inhis native town to lead a life devoted to theobservance of ceremonial religion.

But the Sage loved his disciple as deeply as the lattervenerated his Master. In spite of his age, Ribhu wouldhimself go to his disciple in the town, just to seehow far the latter had outgrown his ritualism. At

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times the Sage went in disguise, so that he mightobserve how Nidagha would act when he did notknow that he was being observed by his Master.

On one such occasion Ribhu, who had put on thedisguise of a village rustic, found Nidagha intentlywatching a royal procession. Unrecognised by thetown dweller Nidagha, the village rustic enquiredwhat the bustle was all about, and was told that theking was going in procession.

“Oh! It is the king. He goes in procession! But whereis he?” asked the rustic.

“There, on the elephant”, said Nidagha.

“You say the king is on the elephant. Yes, I see thetwo”, said the rustic, “But which is the king andwhich is the elephant?”

“What!” exclaimed Nidagha, “You see the two, butdo not know that the man above is the king and theanimal below is the elephant? Where is the use oftalking to a man like you?”

“Pray, be not impatient with an ignorant man likeme”, begged the rustic. “But you said ‘above’ and‘below’, what do they mean?”

Nidagha could stand it no more. “You see the kingand the elephant, the one above and the other below.Yet you want to know what is meant by ‘above’ and‘below’?” burst out Nidagha. “If things seen andwords spoken can convey so little to you, action

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alone can teach you. Bend forward, and you willknow it all too well”.

The rustic did as he was told. Nidagha got on hisshoulders and said “Know it now. I am above as theking, you are below as the elephant. Is that clear enough?”

“No, not yet”, was the rustic’s quiet reply. “You sayyou are above like the king, and I am below like theelephant. The ‘king’, the ‘elephant’, ‘above’ and‘below’, so far it is clear. But pray, tell me what youmean by ‘I’ and ‘you’?”

When Nidagha was thus confronted all of a suddenwith the mighty problem of defining the ‘you’ apartfrom the ‘I’, light dawned on his mind. At once hejumped down and fell at his Master’s feet saying,“Who else but my venerable Master, Ribhu, couldhave thus drawn my mind from the superficialitiesof physical existence to the true Being of the Self?Oh, benign Master, I crave thy blessings”.

Therefore, while your aim is to transcend here and nowthese superficialities of physical existence through atmavichara, where is the scope for making the distinctionsof ‘you’ and ‘I’, which pertain only to the body? Whenyou turn the mind within, seeking the source of thought,where is the ‘you’ and where is the ‘I’?

You should seek and be the Self that includes all.

D: But is it not funny that the ‘I’ should be searching forthe ‘I’? Does not the enquiry, ‘Who am I?’ turn out in

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the end an empty formula? Or, am I to put the questionto myself endlessly, repeating it like some mantra?

M: Self-enquiry is certainly not an empty formula; it ismore than the repetition of any mantra. If theenquiry, ‘Who am I?’ were a mere mentalquestioning, it would not be of much value. Thevery purpose of Self-enquiry is to focus the entiremind at its source. It is not, therefore, a case of one‘I’ searching for another ‘I’.

Much less is Self-enquiry an empty formula, for itinvolves an intense activity of the entire mind tokeep it steadily poised in pure Self-awareness.

Self-enquiry is the one infallible means, the onlydirect one, to realise the unconditioned, AbsoluteBeing that you really are.

D: Why should Self-enquiry alone be considered thedirect means to jnana?

M: Because every kind of sadhana except that of atmavichara presupposes the retention of the mind as theinstrument for carrying on the sadhana, and withoutthe mind it cannot be practised. The ego may takedifferent and subtler forms at the different stages ofone’s practice, but is itself never destroyed.

When Janaka exclaimed, “Now I have discoveredthe thief who has been ruining me all along. Heshall be dealt with summarily”, the King was reallyreferring to the ego or the mind.

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D: But the thief may well be apprehended by the othersadhanas as well.

M: The attempt to destroy the ego or the mind throughsadhanas other than atma vichara, is just like thethief assuming the guise of a policeman to catch thethief, that is himself. Atma vichara alone can revealthe truth that neither the ego nor the mind reallyexists, and enables one to realise the pure,undifferentiated Being of the Self or the Absolute.

Having realised the Self, nothing remains to be known,because it is perfect Bliss, it is the All.

D: In this life beset with limitations can I ever realisethe bliss of the Self?

M: That bliss of the Self is always with you, and youwill find it for yourself, if you would seek it earnestly.

The cause of your misery is not in the life without; it is inyou as the ego. You impose limitations on yourselfand then make a vain struggle to transcend them.All unhappiness is due to the ego; with it comes allyour trouble. What does it avail you to attribute tothe happenings in life the cause of misery which isreally within you? What happiness can you get fromthings extraneous to yourself? When you get it, howlong will it last?

If you would deny the ego and scorch it by ignoringit, you would be free. If you accept it, it will imposelimitations on you and throw you into a vain struggle

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to transcend them. That was how the thief soughtto ‘ruin’ King Janaka.

To be the Self that you really are is the only means torealise the bliss that is ever yours.

D: Not having realised the truth that the Self aloneexists, should I not adopt bhakti and yoga margas asbeing more suitable for purposes of sadhana thanvichara marga? Is not the realization of one’s AbsoluteBeing that is, Brahma jnana, something quiteunattainable to a layman like me?

M: Brahma jnana is not a knowledge to be acquired, sothat acquiring it one may obtain happiness. It isone’s ignorant outlook that one should give up. TheSelf you seek to know is verily yourself. Yoursupposed ignorance causes you needless grief likethat of the ten foolish men who grieved the ‘loss’ ofthe tenth man who was never lost.

The ten foolish men in the parable forded a stream andon reaching the other shore wanted to make sure that allof them had in fact safely crossed the stream. One of theten began to count, but while counting others, left himselfout. “I see only nine; sure enough, we have lost one.Who can it be?” he said. “Did you count correctly?”asked another, and did the counting himself. But he toocounted only nine. One after the other each of the tencounted only nine, missing himself. “We are only nine”they all agreed, “but who is the missing one?” they askedthemselves. Every effort they made to discover the

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‘missing’ individual failed. “Whoever he be that isdrowned”, said the most sentimental of ten fools, “wehave lost him”. So saying he burst into tears, and the restof the nine followed suit.

Seeing them weeping on the river bank, a sympatheticwayfarer enquired for the cause. They related whathad happened and said that even after countingthemselves several times they could find no more thannine. On hearing the story, but seeing all the tenbefore him, the wayfarer guessed what had happened.In order to make them know for themselves that theywere really ten, that all of them had come safe fromthe crossing, he told them “Let each of you count forhimself but one after the other serially, one, two, threeand so on, while I shall give you each a blow so thatall of you may be sure of having been included in thecount, and included only once. The tenth ‘missing’man will then be found.” Hearing this they rejoicedat the prospect of finding their ‘lost’ comrade andaccepted the method suggested by the wayfarer.

While the kind wayfarer gave a blow to each of theten in turn, he that got the blow counted himselfaloud. “Ten” said the last man as he got the last blowin his turn. Bewildered they looked at one another,“We are ten” they said with one voice and thankedthe wayfarer for having removed their grief.

That is the parable. From where was the tenth manbrought in? Was he ever lost? By knowing that he

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had been there all the while, did they learn anythingnew? The cause of their grief was not the real loss ofany one of the ten, it was their own ignorance,rather their mere supposition that one of them waslost (though they could not find who he was), becausethey had counted only nine.

Such is also the case with you. Truly there is nocause for you to be miserable and unhappy. Youyourself impose limitations on your true nature ofInfinite Being, and then weep that you are but afinite creature. Then you take up this or that sadhanato transcend the non-existent limitations. But if yoursadhana itself assumes the existence of the limitations,how can it help you to transcend them?

Hence I say, know that you are really the Infinite,Pure Being, the Self Absolute. You are always thatSelf and nothing but that Self. Therefore, you cannever be really ignorant of the Self; your ignoranceis merely a formal ignorance, like the ignorance ofthe ten fools about the ‘lost’ tenth man. It is thisignorance that caused them grief.

Know then that true knowledge does not create anew Being for you, it only removes your ‘ignorantignorance’. Bliss is not added to your nature, it ismerely revealed as your true and natural state, eternaland imperishable. The only way to be rid of yourgrief is to know and be the Self. How can thisbe unattainable?

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D: Research on God has been going on from timeimmemorial. Has the final word been said?

M: (Keeps Silence for some time).

D: (Puzzled) Should I consider Sri Bhagavan’s silence asthe reply to my question?

M: Yes. Mauna is Iswara svarupa. Hence the text:

maEnVyaOya àkiqtpräütÅvm! 1

D: Buddha is said to have ignored such enquiries aboutGod.

M: And, for this he was called a sunya vadin (nihilist).In fact Buddha concerned himself more withdirecting the seeker to realise Bliss here and nowthan with academic discussions about God etc.

D: God is described as manifest and unmanifest. As theformer He is said to include the world as a part ofHis Being. If that is so, we as part of that worldshould have easily known Him in the manifestedform.

M: Know yourself before you seek to decide about thenature of God and the world.

1 The truth of Supreme Brahman proclaimed through silent eloquence.

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D: Does knowing myself imply knowing God?

M: Yes, God is within you.

D: Then, what stands in the way of my knowing myselfor God?

M: Your wandering mind and perverted ways.

D: I am a weak creature. But why does not the superiorpower of the Lord within remove the obstacles?

M: Yes, He will, if you have the aspiration.

D: Why should He not create the aspiration in me?

M: Then surrender yourself.

D: If I surrender myself, is no prayer to God necessary?

M: Surrender itself is a mighty prayer.

D: But is it not necessary to understand His naturebefore one surrenders oneself?

M: If you believe that God will do for you all the thingsyou want Him to do, then surrender yourself toHim. Otherwise let God alone and know yourself.

D: Has God or the Guru any solicitude for me?

M: If you seek either — they are not really two but oneand identical — rest assured that they are seekingyou with a solicitude greater than you can everimagine.

D: Jesus gave the parable of the lost coin, wherein thewoman searches for it till it is found.

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M: Yes, that aptly represents the truth that God or theGuru is always in search of the earnest seeker. Were thecoin a dud piece, the woman would not have madethat long search. Do you see what it means? The seekermust qualify himself through devotion etc.

D: But one may not be quite sure of God’s Grace.

M: If the unripe mind does not feel His Grace, it doesnot mean that God’s Grace is absent, for it wouldimply that God is at times not gracious, that is,ceases to be God.

D: Is that the same as the saying of Christ, “Accordingto thy faith be it done unto thee”.

M: Quite so.

D: The Upanishads say, I am told, that he alone knowsthe Atman whom the Atman chooses. Why shouldthe Atman choose at all? If it chooses, why someparticular person?

M: When the sun rises, some buds alone blossom, notall. Do you blame the sun for that? Nor can the budblossom of itself, it requires the sunlight to do it.

D: May we not say that the help of the Atman is neededbecause it is the Atman that drew over itself the veilof maya?

M: You may say so.

D: If the Atman has drawn the veil over itself, should itnot itself remove the veil?

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M: It will do so. See for whom is the veil.

D: Why should I? Let the Atman itself remove the veil!

M: If the Atman talks about the veil, then the Atmanitself will remove it.

D: Is God personal?

M: Yes, He is always the first person, the I, ever standingbefore you. Because you give precedence to worldlythings, God appears to have receded to thebackground. If you give up all else and seek Himalone He alone will remain as the I, the Self.

D: The final state of Realization according to Advaita,is said to be the absolute Union with the Divineand according to Visishtadvaita, a qualified union,while Dvaita maintains that there is no union atall. Which of these should be considered thecorrect view?

M: Why speculate as to what will happen some time inthe future? All are agreed that the ‘I’ exists. Towhichever school of thought he may belong, let theearnest seeker first find out what the ‘I’ is. Then itwill be time enough to know what the final Statewill be, whether the ‘I’ will get merged in the SupremeBeing or stand apart from Him. Let us not forestallthe conclusion, but keep an open mind.

D: But will not some understanding of the final statebe a helpful guide even to the aspirant?

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M: No purpose is served in trying to decide now whatthe final state of Realization will be. It has nointrinsic value.

D: Why so?

M: Because you proceed on a wrong principle. Yourascertainment has to depend on the intellect whichshines only by the light it derives from the Self. Is itnot presumptuous on the part of the intellect to sitin judgement over that of which it is but a limitedmanifestation, and from which it derives its littlelight?

How can the intellect which can never reach theSelf be competent to ascertain, and much less decidethe nature of the final state of Realization? It is liketrying to measure the sunlight at its source by thestandard of the light given by a candle. The wax willmelt down before the candle comes anywhere nearthe sun.

Instead of indulging in mere speculation, devoteyourself here and now to the search for the Truththat is ever within you.

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D: Is the world perceived by the jnani?

M: From whom is the question? Is it from a jnani orajnani?

D: From an ajnani, I admit.

M: Is it the world that seeks to decide the issue about itsreality? The doubt arises in you. Know in the firstinstance who the doubter is, and then you mayconsider if the world is real or not.

D: The ajnani sees and knows the world and its objects,which affect his senses of touch, taste etc. Does thejnani experience the world in like manner?

M: You talk of seeing and knowing the world. But withoutknowing yourself, the knowing subject, (without whomthere is no knowledge of the object), how can you knowthe true nature of the world, the known object? Nodoubt, the objects affect the body and the sense organs,but is it to your body that the question arises? Does thebody say “I feel the object, it is real”? Or is it the worldthat says to you “I, the world, am real”?

D: I am only trying to understand the jnani’s point ofview about the world. Is the world perceived afterSelf-realization?

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M: Why worry yourself about the world and whathappens to it after Self-realization? First realise theSelf. What does it matter if the world is perceived ornot. Do you gain anything to help you in your questby the non-perception of the world during sleep?Conversely, what would you lose now by theperception of the world? It is quite immaterial tothe jnani or ajnani if he perceives the world or not.It is seen by both, but their viewpoints differ.

D: If the jnani and the ajnani perceive the world in likemanner, where is the difference between them?

M: Seeing the world, the jnani sees the Self which is thesubstratum of all that is seen; the ajnani, whether hesees the world or not, is ignorant of his true Being,the Self.

Take the instance of moving pictures on the screenin the cinema-show. What is there in front of youbefore the play begins? Merely the screen. On thatscreen you see the entire show, and for all appearancesthe pictures are real. But go and try to take hold ofthem. What do you take hold of? Merely the screenon which the pictures appeared so real. After theplay, when the pictures disappear, what remains?The screen again!

So with the Self. That alone exists; the pictures comeand go. If you hold on to the Self, you will not bedeceived by the appearance of the pictures. Nor doesit matter at all if the pictures appear or disappear.

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Ignoring the Self the ajnani thinks the world is real,just as ignoring the screen he sees merely the pictures,as if they existed apart from it. If one knows thatwithout the seer there is nothing to be seen, just asthere are no pictures without the screen, one is notdeluded. The jnani knows that the screen, thepictures and the sight thereof are but the Self. Withthe pictures the Self is in its manifest form; withoutthe pictures It remains in the unmanifest form. Tothe jnani it is quite immaterial if the Self is in theone form or the other. He is always the Self. But theajnani seeing the jnani active gets confounded.

D: It is just that point that prompted me to put myfirst question, whether one who has realised theSelf perceives the world as we do, and if he does, Ishould like to know how Sri Bhagavan felt aboutthe mysterious disappearance of the photoyesterday....

M: (Smiling) You are referring to the photo of theMadurai temple. A few minutes earlier it was passingthrough the hands of the visitors who looked at it inturn. Evidently, it was mislaid among the pages ofsome book or other they were consulting.

D: Yes, it was that incident. How does Bhagavan viewit? There was anxious search for the photo which, inthe end, could not be found. How does Bhagavanview the mysterious disappearance of the photo, justat the moment when it was wanted?

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M: Suppose you dream that you are taking me to yourdistant country, Poland. You wake up and ask me,“I dreamt so and so. Did you also have some suchdream or know in some other way that I was takingyou to Poland?” What significance will you attachto such an enquiry?

D: But, with regard to the missing photo, the wholeincident took place in front of Sri Bhagavan.

M: The seeing of the photo, its disappearance as wellas your present enquiry are all mere workings ofmind.

There is a Puranic story which illustrates the point.When Sita was missing from the forest hermitage,Rama went about in search of her, wailing, ‘O Sita,Sita!’ It is said that Parvati and Parameswara sawfrom above what was taking place in the forest.Parvati expressed her surprise to Siva and said “Youpraised Rama as the Perfect Being. See how hebehaves and grieves at the loss of Sita!” Siva replied“If you are sceptical about Rama’s perfection, thenput him to the test yourself. Through your yogamaya transform yourself into the likeness of Sitaand appear before him”. Parvati did so. She appearedbefore Rama in the very likeness of Sita, but to herastonishment Rama ignored her presence and wenton as before, calling out ‘O Sita, O Sita!’, as if hewere blind.

D: I am unable to grasp the moral of the story.

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M: If Rama were really searching for the bodily presenceof Sita, he would have recognised the person whowas standing in front of himself as the Sita he hadlost. But no, the missing Sita was just as unreal asthe Sita that appeared before his eyes. Rama was notreally blind; but to Rama, the jnani, the prior beingof Sita in the hermitage, her disappearance, hisconsequent search for her as well as the actualpresence of Parvati in the guise of Sita, were all equallyunreal. Do you now understand how the missingphoto was viewed?

D: I cannot say it is all clear to me. Is the world that isseen, felt and sensed by us in so many wayssomething like a dream, an illusion?

M: There is no alternative for you but to accept theworld as unreal, if you are seeking the Truth and theTruth alone.

D: Why so?

M: For the simple reason that unless you give upthe idea that the world is real, your mind willalways be after it. If you take the appearance tobe real you will never know the Real itself,although it is the Real alone that exists. Thispoint is illustrated by the analogy of the ‘snakein the rope’. As long as you see the snake youcannot see the rope as such. The non-existentsnake becomes real to you, while the real ropeseems wholly non-existent as such.

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D: It is easy to accept tentatively that the world is notultimately real, but it is hard to have the convictionthat it is really unreal.

M: Even so is your dream world real while you aredreaming. So long as the dream lasts, everythingyou see, feel, etc., therein is real.

D: Is then the world nothing better than a dream?

M: What is wrong with the sense of reality you havewhile you are dreaming? You may be dreaming ofsomething quite impossible, for instance, of havinga happy chat with a dead person. Just for a momentyou may doubt in the dream saying to yourself, ‘Washe not dead?’, but somehow your mind reconcilesitself to the dream vision, and the person is as goodas alive for the purposes of the dream. In other words,the dream as a dream does not permit you to doubtits reality. Even so, you are unable to doubt thereality of the world of your wakeful experience. Howcan the mind which has itself created the world acceptit as unreal? That is the significance of the comparisonmade between the world of wakeful experience andthe dream world. Both are but creations of the mindand so long as the mind is engrossed in either, itfinds itself unable to deny the reality of the dreamworld while dreaming and of the waking world whileawake. If, on the contrary, you withdraw your mindcompletely from the world and turn it within andabide thus, that is, if you keep awake always to the

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Self, which is the substratum of all experience, youwill find the world, of which alone you are nowaware, just as unreal as the world in which you livedin your dream.

D: As I said before, we see, feel and sense the world inso many ways. These sensations are the reactions tothe objects seen, felt etc., and are not mentalcreations as in dreams, which differ not only fromperson to person but also with regard to the sameperson. Is that not enough to prove the objectivereality of the world?

M: All this talk about inconsistencies and theirattribution to the dream world arises only now,when you are awake. While you are dreaming,the dream was a perfectly integrated whole. Thatis to say, if you felt thirsty in a dream, the illusorydrinking of illusory water did quench yourillusory thirst. But all this was real and notillusory to you so long as you did not know thatthe dream itself was illusory. Similarly with thewaking world; and the sensations you now have,get coordinated to give you the impression thatthe world is real.

If, on the contrary, the world is a self-existent reality(that is what you evidently mean by its objectivity)what prevents the world from revealing itself to youin sleep? You do not say you have not existed inyour sleep.

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D: Neither do I deny the world’s existence while I amasleep. It has been existing all the while. If duringmy sleep I did not see it, others who are not sleepingsaw it.

M: To say you existed while asleep, was it necessary tocall in the evidence of others so as to prove it toyou? Why do you seek their evidence now? Those‘others’ can tell you of having seen the world (duringyour sleep) only when you yourself are awake. Withregard to your own existence it is different. Onwaking up you say you had a sound sleep, so that, tothat extent you are aware of yourself in the deepestsleep, whereas you have not the slightest notion ofthe world’s existence then. Even now, while you areawake, is it the world that says “I am real”, or is ityou?

D: Of course I say it, but I say it of the world.

M: Well then, that world, which you say is real, is reallymocking at you for seeking to prove its reality whileof your own Reality you are ignorant.

You want somehow or other to maintain that theworld is real. What is the standard of Reality? Thatalone is Real which exists by itself, which revealsitself by itself and which is eternal and unchanging.

Does the world exist by itself? Was it ever seenwithout the aid of the mind? In sleep there is neithermind nor world. When awake there is the mind

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and there is the world. What does this invariableconcomitance mean? You are familiar with theprinciples of inductive logic, which are consideredthe very basis of scientific investigation. Why doyou not decide this question of the reality of theworld in the light of those accepted principles oflogic?

Of yourself you can say ‘I exist’. That is, yours is notmere existence, it is Existence of which you areconscious. Really, it is Existence identical withConsciousness.

D: The world may not be conscious of itself, yet itexists.

M: Consciousness is always Self-consciousness. If youare conscious of anything you are essentiallyconscious of yourself. Unselfconscious existence is acontradiction in terms. It is no existence at all. It ismerely attributed existence, whereas true Existence,the sat, is not an attribute, it is the Substance itself.It is the vastu. Reality is therefore known as sat-chit,Being-Consciousness, and never merely the one tothe exclusion of the other. The world neither existsby itself, nor is it conscious of its existence. Howcan you say that such a world is real?

And what is the nature of the world? It is perpetualchange, a continuous, interminable flux. Adependent, unselfconscious, ever-changing worldcannot be real.

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D: Not only does Western empirical science* considerthe world real, but, the Vedas etc., give elaboratecosmological descriptions of the world and its origin.Why should they do so if the world is unreal?

M: The essential purpose of the Vedas etc., is to teachyou the nature of the imperishable Atman, and todeclare with authority “Thou art That”.

D: I accept. But why should they give cosmologicaldescriptions spun out at great length, unless theyconsider the world real?

M: Adopt in practice what you accept in theory, andleave the rest. The sastras have to guide every type ofseeker after Truth, and all are not of the same mentalmake-up. What you cannot accept treat as arthavada or auxiliary argument.

* NOTE

In the last analysis, the world of sense-perceptionresolves itself into the two categories of time and space,and here is what Sir James Jeans writes in his book, TheNew Background of Science, as the conclusion drawn fromexperiments based on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.

“We find that space means nothing apart from ourperception of objects, and time means nothing apart fromour experience of events. Space begins to appear merelyas a fiction created by our own minds (our physical bodiesare merely things in space — see verse 16, Truth Revealed),

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an illegitimate extension to Nature of a subjective conceptwhich helps us to understand and describe the arrangementof objects as seen by us; while time appears as a secondfiction (without the past and the future, time as generallyconceived is but a myth — see verse 15, Truth Revealed),serving a similar purpose for the arrangement of eventswhich happen to us”.

The reader should note that when time and space,are considered by modern science as mere fictions createdby our own minds, objects and events become ipso factomere creations of the mind (see verses 17 & 18 TruthRevealed) because they cannot be without time and space.

As to the solidity attributed by the layman to matter,the following conclusions drawn from modernexperimental physics furnish the answer.

1. Science knows nothing about the real nature ofthe constituents of the atom. It knows only the radiationsthat come out of it, but never the source itself.

2. Since the atom continually radiates energy, theelectron at one time can never be identified with theelectron at another time.

3. ‘The electron ceases altogether to have theproperties of a “thing” as conceived by common sense; itis merely a region from which energy may radiate’. (Outlineof Philosophy by Bertrand Russell).

The following is the conclusion Bertrand Russelldraws: “Now owing chiefly to two German physicists,

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Heisenburg and Schrodinger, the last vestiges of the oldsolid atom have melted away, matter has become as ghostlyas anything in a spiritualist seance”.

Let the reader now judge for himself in what waythe waking world of sense-perception is fundamentallydifferent from the dream-world, reminding himself of whathas been stated above in the body of the chapter and ofthe following from ‘Who Am I?’: “Except that the wakefulstate is long and the dream state is short, there is nodifference between the two”. This truth, echoed by modernscience, is expressed by Dr. Eddington thus: “The frankrealization that physical science is concerned with theworld of shadows is one of the most significant advances....In the world of physics we watch a shadow-graph performanceof the drama of familiar life (the picture show on the screen,as Sri Bhagavan calls it). The shadow of my elbow rests onthe shadow table as the shadow ink flows over shadowpaper”. (The Nature of the Physical World).

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D: Sri Bhagavan speaks of the heart as the seat ofConsciousness and as identical with the Self. Whatdoes the heart exactly signify?

M: The question about the heart arises because you areinterested in seeking the source of consciousness.To all deep thinking minds, the enquiry about the‘I’ and its nature has an irresistible fascination.

Call it by any name, God, Self, the heart or the seatof Consciousness, it is all the same. The point to begrasped is this, that Heart means the very core ofone’s being, the Centre, without which there isnothing whatever.

D: But Sri Bhagavan has specified a particular place forthe heart within the physical body, that it is in thechest, two digits to the right from the median.

M: Yes, that is the centre of spiritual experienceaccording to the testimony of Sages. This spiritualheart-centre is quite different from the blood-propelling, muscular organ known by the same name.The spiritual heart-centre is not an organ of thebody. All that you can say of the heart is that it is thevery core of your being. That with which you are

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really identical (as the word in Sanskrit literallymeans), whether you are awake, asleep or dreaming,whether you are engaged in work or immersed insamadhi.

D: In that case, how can it be localized in any part ofthe body? Fixing a place for the heart would implysetting physiological limitations to That which isbeyond space and time.

M: That is right. But the person who puts the questionabout the position of the heart, considers himself asexisting with or in the body. While putting thequestion now, would you say that your body aloneis here but that you are speaking from somewhereelse? No, you accept your bodily existence. It is fromthis point of view that any reference to a physicalbody comes to be made.

Truly speaking, Pure Consciousness is indivisible, itis without parts. It has no form and shape, no ‘within’and ‘without’. There is no ‘right’ or ‘left’ for it. PureConsciousness, which is the heart, includes all; andnothing is outside or apart from it. That is theultimate Truth.

From this absolute standpoint, the heart, Self orConsciousness can have no particular place assignedto it in the physical body. What is the reason? Thebody is itself a mere projection of the mind, and themind is but a poor reflection of the radiant heart.How can That, in which everything is contained,

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be itself confined as a tiny part within the physicalbody which is but an infinitesimal, phenomenalmanifestation of the one Reality?

But people do not understand this. They cannothelp thinking in terms of the physical body and theworld. For instance, you say, “I have come to thisashram all the way from my country beyond theHimalayas”. But that is not the truth. Where is a‘coming’ or ‘going’ or any movement whatever, forthe one, all-pervading Spirit which you really are?You are where you have always been. It is your bodythat moved or was conveyed from place to place tillit reached this ashram.

This is the simple truth, but to a person who considershimself a subject living in an objective world, itappears as something altogether visionary!

It is by coming down to the level of ordinary understandingthat a place is assigned to the heart in the physicalbody.

D: How then shall I understand Sri Bhagavan’sstatement thatthe experience of the heart-centre is at the particularplace in the chest?

M: Once you accept that from the true and absolutestandpoint, the heart as Pure Consciousness isbeyond space and time, it will be easy for you tounderstand the rest in its correct perspective.

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D: It is only on that basis that I have put the questionabout the position of the heart. I am asking aboutSri Bhagavan’s experience.

M: Pure Consciousness wholly unrelated to the physicalbody and transcending the mind is a matter of directexperience. Sages know their bodiless, eternalExistence just as the layman knows his bodilyexistence. But the experience of Consciousness canbe with bodily awareness as well as without it. Inthe bodiless experience of Pure Consciousness theSage is beyond time and space, and no questionabout the position of the heart can then at all arise.

Since, however, the physical body cannot subsist(with life) apart from Consciousness, bodilyawareness has to be sustained by Pure Consciousness.The former, by its nature, is limited to and can neverbe co-extensive with the latter which is infinite andeternal. Body-consciousness is merely a monad-like,miniature reflection of the Pure Consciousness withwhich the Sage has realised his identity. For him,therefore, body-consciousness is only a reflected ray,as it were, of the Self-effulgent, InfiniteConsciousness which is himself. It is in this sensealone that the Sage is aware of his bodily existence.

Since, during the bodiless experience of the heart asPure Consciousness, the Sage is not at all aware ofthe body, that absolute experience is localized byhim within the limits of the physical body by a sort

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of feeling-recollection made while he is with bodilyawareness.

D: For men like me, who have neither the directexperience of the heart nor the consequentrecollection, the matter seems to be somewhatdifficult to grasp. About the position of the heartitself, perhaps, we must depend on some sort ofguesswork.

M: If the determination of the position of the heart isto depend on guesswork even in the case of thelayman, the question is surely not worth muchconsideration. No, it is not on guesswork that youhave to depend, it is on an unerring intuition.

D: For whom is the intuition?

M: For one and all.

D: Does Sri Bhagavan credit me with an intuitiveknowledge of the heart?

M: No, not of the heart, but of the position of the heartin relation to your identity.

D: Sri Bhagavan says that I intuitively know the positionof the heart in the physical body?

M: Why not ?

D: (Pointing to himself ) It is to me personally — thatSri Bhagavan is referring?

M: Yes. That is the intuition! How did you refer toyourself by gesture just now? Did you not put your

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finger on the right side of the chest? That is exactlythe place of the heart-centre.

D: So then, in the absence of direct knowledge of theheart-centre, I have to depend on this intuition?

M: What is wrong with it? When a schoolboy says “It isI that did the sum correctly”, or when he asks you,“Shall I run and get the book for you”, would hepoint out to the head that did the sum correctly, orto the legs that will carry him swiftly to get you thebook? No, in both cases, his finger is pointed quitenaturally towards the right side of the chest, thusgiving innocent expression to the profound truththat the source of ‘I’-ness in him is there. It is anunerring intuition that makes him refer to himself,to the heart which is the Self, in that way. The act isquite involuntary and universal, that is to say, it isthe same in the case of every individual.

What stronger proof than this do you require aboutthe position of the heart-centre in the physical body?

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VVVVVTTTTTHEHEHEHEHE P P P P PLLLLLAAAAACECECECECE OFOFOFOFOF THETHETHETHETHE H H H H HEAREAREAREAREARTTTTT

D: But I have heard it said by a Saint that his spiritualexperience is felt at the place between the eyebrows.

M: As I said previously, that is the ultimate and perfectRealization which transcends subject-object relation.When that is achieved, it does not matter where thespiritual experience is felt.

D: But the question is, which is the correct view of thetwo, namely, (1) that the centre of spiritual experienceis the place between the eyebrows, (2) that it is theheart.

M: For purposes of practice you may concentratebetween the eyebrows, it would then be bhavana orimaginative contemplation of the mind; whereasthe supreme state of anubhava or Realization, withwhich you become wholly identified and in whichyour individuality is completely dissolved, transcendsthe mind. Then, there can be no objectified centreto be experienced by you as a subject distinct andseparate from it.

D: I would like to put my question in slightly differentwords. Can the place between the eyebrows be saidto be the seat of the Self?

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M: You accept that the Self is the ultimate source ofconsciousness and that it subsists equally during allthe three states of the mind. But see what happenswhen a person in meditation is overcome by sleep.As the first symptom of sleep his head begins tonod, which however cannot happen if the Self weresituate between the eyebrows or at any other placein the head.

If during sleep the experience of the Self is not feltbetween the eyebrows, that centre cannot be calledits seat without implying that the Self often forsakesits own place, which is absurd.

The fact is the sadhaka may have his experience atany centre or chakra on which he concentrates hismind. But, for that reason that particular place ofhis experience does not become ipso facto the seat ofthe Self.

There is an interesting story about Kamal, the sonof Saint Kabir, which serves as an illustration toshow that the head (and a fortiori the place betweenthe eyebrows) cannot be considered the seat of theSelf.

Kabir was intensely devoted to Sri Rama, and henever failed to feed those who sang the praise of theLord of his devotion. On one occasion, however, itso happened that he had not the wherewithal toprovide food for such a gathering of devotees. Forhim, however, there could be no alternative except

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that he must somehow make every necessaryarrangement before next morning. So, he and hisson set out at night to secure the required provisions.

The story goes that after the father and son hadremoved the provisions from a merchant’s housethrough a hole they made in the wall, the son wentin again just to wake up the household and tell them,as a matter of principle, that their house had beenburgled. When, having roused the household, theboy tried to make good his escape through the holeand join his father on the other side, his body stuckup in the aperture. To avoid being identified by thepursuing household (because, if detected, therewould be no feeding at all of the devotees the nextday), he called out to his father and told him tosever his head and take it away with him. That done,Kabir made good his escape with the stolen provisionsand the son’s head which on reaching home, washidden away from possible detection. The next dayKabir gave a feast to the bhaktas, quite unmindful ofwhat had happened the previous night. “If it isRama’s will” said Kabir to himself, “that my sonshould die, may it prevail!” In the evening Kabirwith the party set out as usual in procession into thetown with bhajana etc.

Meanwhile, the burgled householder made reportto the king, producing the truncated body of Kamal,which gave them no clue. In order to secure its

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identification, the king had the body tied upprominently on the highway so that whoever claimedor took it away (for, no dead body is forsaken withoutthe last rites being given to it by the kith and kin)might be interrogated or arrested by the police whowere posted secretly for the purpose.

Kabir and his party with the bhajana in full swingcame by the highway, when, to the astonishment ofall, Kamal’s truncated body (which was considereddead as a door-nail) began to clap its hands markingtime to the tune sung by the bhajana party.

This story disproves the suggestion that the head orthe place between the eyebrows is the seat of theSelf. It may also be noted that when in the battlefieldthe head of a soldier in action is severed from thebody by a sudden and powerful stroke of the sword,the body continues to run or move its limbs as in amock fight, just for a while, before it finally fallsdown dead.

D: But Kamal’s body was dead hours before?

M: What you call death is really no extraordinaryexperience forKamal. Here is the story of what had happened whenhe was younger still.

As a boy Kamal had a friend of equal age with whomhe used to play games of marbles etc. A general rulethey observed between themselves was that if one of

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them owed the other a game or two, the same shouldbe redeemed the next day. One evening they partedwith a game to the credit of Kamal. Next day, inorder to claim ‘the return of the game’, Kamal wentto the boy’s house, where he saw the boy laid on theverandah, while his relatives were weeping beside him.

“What is the matter”? Kamal asked them, “he playedwith me last evening and also owes me a game”.The relatives wept all the more saying that the boywas dead. “No”, said Kamal, “he is not dead butmerely pretends to be so, just to evade redeemingthe game he owes me”. The relatives protested, askingKamal to see for himself that the boy was really dead,that the body was cold and stiff. “But all this is amere pretension of the boy, I know; what if thebody be stiff and cold? I too can become like that”.So saying Kamal laid himself down, and in thetwinkling of an eye was dead.

The poor relatives, who were weeping till then forthe death of their own boy, were distressed anddismayed, and now began to weep for Kamal’s deathalso. But up rose Kamal on his back, declaring “Doyou see it now? I was as you would say dead, but Iam up again, alive and kicking. This is how he wantsto deceive me, but he cannot elude me like this withhis pretensions”.

In the end, the story goes, Kamal’s inherentsaintliness gave life to the dead boy, and Kamal got

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back the game that was due to him. The moral isthat the death of the body is not the extinction ofthe Self. Its relation to the body is not limited bybirth and death, and its place in the physical body isnot circumscribed by one’s experience felt at aparticular place, as for instance between theeyebrows, due to practice of dhyana made on thatcentre. The supreme state of Self-awareness is neverabsent; it transcends the three states of the mind aswell as life and death.

D: Since Sri Bhagavan says that the Self may functionat any of the centres or chakras while its seat is in theheart, is it not possible that by the practice of intenseconcentration or dhyana between the eyebrows thiscentre may itself become the seat of the Self?

M: As long as it is merely the stage of practice ofconcentration by fixing a place of controlling yourattention, any consideration about the seat of theSelf would merely be a theorisation. You consideryourself as the subject, the seer, and the placewhereon you fix your attention becomes the objectseen. This is merely bhavana. When, on the contrary,you see the Seer himself, you merge in the Self, youbecome one with it; that is the heart.

D: Then, is the practice of concentration between theeyebrows advisable?

M: The final result of the practice of any kind of dhyanais that the object, on which the sadhaka fixes his

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mind, ceases to exist as distinct and separate fromthe subject. They (the subject and object) becomethe one Self, and that is the heart.

The practice of concentration on the centre betweenthe eyebrows is one of the methods of sadhana, andthereby thoughts are effectively controlled for thetime being. The reason is this. All thought is anextroverted activity of the mind; and thought, inthe first instance, follows ‘sight’, physical or mental.

It should however be noted, that this sadhana offixing one’s attention between the eyebrows mustbe accompanied by japa. Because next in importanceto the physical eye is the physical ear, either forcontrolling or distracting the mind. Next inimportance to the eye of the mind (that is, mentalvisualisation of the object) is the ear of the mind(that is, mental articulation of speech), either tocontrol and thereby strengthen the mind, or todistract and thereby dissipate it.

Therefore, while fixing the mind’s eye on a centre,as for instance between the eyebrows, you shouldalso practise the mental articulation of a nama (name)or mantra (sacred syllable or syllables). Otherwiseyou will soon lose your hold on the objectof concentration.

Sadhana as described above leads to identification of theName, Word or Self — whatever you may call it —with the centre selected for purposes of dhyana. Pure

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Consciousness, the Self or the heart is the finalRealization.

D: Why does not Sri Bhagavan direct us to practiseconcentration on some particular centre of chakra?

M: Yoga sastras say that the sahasrara or the brain is theseat of the Self. Purushasukta declares that the heartis its seat. To enable the sadhaka to steer clear ofpossible doubt, I tell him to take up the ‘thread’ orthe clue of ‘I’-ness or ‘I-am’-ness and follow it up itssource. Because, firstly it is impossible for anybodyto entertain any doubt about his ‘I’-notion; secondlywhatever be the sadhana adopted, the final goal isthe realization of the source of ‘I-am’-ness which isthe primary datum of your experience.

If you, therefore, practise atma vichara you will reachthe heart which is the Self.

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VIVIVIVIVIAAAAAHAMHAMHAMHAMHAM ANDANDANDANDAND A A A A AHAMHAMHAMHAMHAM-----VVVVVRITTIRITTIRITTIRITTIRITTI

D: How can any enquiry initiated by the ego reveal itsown unreality?

M: The ego’s phenomenal existence is transcended whenyou dive into the Source wherefrom arises the aham-vritti.

D: But is not the aham-vritti only one of the three formsin which the ego manifests itself? Yoga Vasishtha andother ancient texts describe the ego as having athreefold form.

M: It is so. The ego is described as having three bodies,the gross, the subtle and the causal, but that is onlyfor the purposes of analytical exposition. If themethod of enquiry were to depend on the ego’s form,you may take it that any enquiry would becomealtogether impossible, because the forms the ego mayassume are legion. Therefore, for purposes of jnanavichara, you have to proceed on the basis that theego has but one form, namely that of aham-vritti.

D: But it may prove inadequate for realizing jnana.

M: Self-enquiry by following the clue of aham-vritti isjust like the dog tracing its master by his scent. Themaster may be at some distant, unknown place, but

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that does not at all stand in the way of the dogtracing him. The master’s scent is an infallible cluefor the animal, and nothing else, such as the dress hewears, or his build and stature etc., counts. The dogholds on to that scent undistractedly while searchingfor him, and finally it succeeds in tracing him.

D: The question still remains why the quest for thesource of aham-vritti, as distinguished from othervrittis, should be considered the direct means to Self-realization.

M: The word ‘aham’ is itself very suggestive. The twoletters of the word, namely A (A) and h (HA), arethe first and the last letters of the Sanskrit alphabet.The suggestion intended to be conveyed by the wordis that it comprises all. How? Because aham signifiesexistence itself.

Although the concept of ‘I’-ness or ‘I-am’-ness is byusage known as aham-vritti, it is not really a vrittilike the other vrittis of the mind. Because, unlikethe other vrittis which have no essential interrelation,the aham-vritti is equally and essentially related toeach and every vritti of the mind. Without the aham-vritti there can be no other vritti, but the aham-vritti can subsist by itself without depending on anyother vritti of the mind. The aham-vritti is thereforefundamentally different from other vrittis.

So then, the search for the source of the aham-vritti isnot merely the search for the basis of one of the forms

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of the ego but for the very Source itself from whicharises the ‘I-am’-ness. In other words, the quest for andthe realization of the source of the ego in the form ofaham-vritti necessarily implies the transcendence of theego in everyone of its possible forms.

D: Conceding that the aham-vritti essentially comprisesall the forms of the ego, why should that vritti alonebe chosen as the means for Self-enquiry?

M: Because it is the one irreducible datum of yourexperience; because seeking its source is the onlypracticable course you can adopt to realise the Self.The ego is said to have a causal body, but how canyou make it the subject of your investigation? Whenthe ego adopts that form, you are immersed in thedarkness of sleep.

D: But is not the ego in its subtle and causal forms toointangible to be tackled through the enquiry intothe source of aham-vritti conducted while the mindis awake?

M: No. The enquiry into the source of aham-vrittitouches the very existence of the ego. Therefore thesubtlety of the ego’s form is not a materialconsideration.

D: While the one aim is to realise the unconditioned,pure Being of the Self, which is in no way dependenton the ego, how can enquiry pertaining to the egoin the form of aham-vritti be of any use?

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M: From the functional point of view, the form, activityor whatever else you may call it (it is immaterial,since it is evanescent), the ego has one and only onecharacteristic. The ego functions as the knot betweenthe Self which is Pure Consciousness and the physicalbody which is inert and insentient. The ego istherefore called the chit-jada granthi. In yourinvestigation into the source of aham-vritti, you takethe essential chit aspect of the ego; and for this reasonthe enquiry must lead to the realization of the pureconsciousness of the Self.

D: What is the relation between the pure consciousnessrealised by the jnani and the ‘I-am’-ness which isaccepted as the primary datum of experience?

M: The undifferentiated consciousness of Pure Being isthe heart or hridayam which you really are, as signifiedby the word itself (hrit + ayam = heart am I). Fromthe heart arises the ‘I-am’-ness as the primary datumof one’s experience. By itself it is suddha-sattva incharacter. It is in this suddha-sattva svarupa (that is,uncontaminated by rajas and tamas), that the ‘I’appears to subsist in the jnani........

D: In the jnani the ego subsists in the sattvic form andtherefore it appears as something real. Am I right?

M: No. The existence of the ego in any form, either inthe jnani or ajnani is itself an appearance. But to theajnani who is deluded into thinking that the waking

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state and the world are real, the ego also appears tobe real. Since he sees the jnani act like otherindividuals, he feels constrained to posit some notionof individuality with reference to the jnani also.

D: How then does the aham-vritti function in the jnani?

M: It does not function in him at all. The jnani’s lakshyais the heart itself, because he is one and identicalwith that undifferentiated, Pure Consciousnessreferred to by the Upanishads as the Prajnana.Prajnana is verily Brahman, the Absolute and thereis no Brahman other than Prajnana.

D: How then does ignorance of this one and onlyReality unhappily arise in the case of the ajnani?

M: The ajnani sees only the mind which is a merereflection of the light of Pure Consciousness arisingfrom the heart. Of the heart itself he is ignorant.Why? Because his mind is extroverted and has neversought its Source.

D: What prevents the infinite, undifferentiated lightof Consciousness arising from the heart fromrevealing itself to the ajnani?

M: Just as water in the pot reflects the enormous sunwithin the narrow limits of the pot, even so thevasanas or latent tendencies of the mind of theindividual, acting as the reflecting medium, catchthe all-pervading, infinite light of Consciousnessarising from the heart and present in the form of a

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reflection the phenomenon called the mind. Seeingonly this reflection, the ajnani is deluded into thebelief that he is a finite being, the jiva.

If the mind becomes introverted through enquiryinto the source of aham-vritti, the vasanas becomeextinct, and in the absence of the reflecting mediumthe phenomenon of reflection, namely, the mind,also disappears being absorbed into the light of theone Reality, the heart.

This is the sum and substance of all that an aspirantneeds to know. What is imperatively required ofhim is an earnest and one-pointed enquiry into thesource of aham-vritti.

D: But any endeavour he may make is limited to themind in the waking state. How can such enquiryconducted in only one of the three states of themind destroy the mind itself?

M: Enquiry into the source of aham-vritti is, no doubt,initiated by the sadhaka in the waking state of themind. It cannot be said that in him the mind hasbeen destroyed. But the process of Self-enquiry willitself reveal that the alternation or transmutation ofthe three states of the mind, as well as the threestates themselves, belong to the world of phenomenawhich cannot affect his intense, inward enquiry.

Self-enquiry is really possible only through intenseintroversion of the mind. What is finally realised as

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a result of such enquiry into the source of aham-vritti, is verily the heart as the undifferentiated lightof Pure Consciousness, into which the reflected lightof the mind is completely absorbed.

D: For the jnani, then, there is no distinction betweenthe three states of mind?

M: How can there be, when the mind itself is dissolvedand lost in the light of Consciousness?

For the jnani all the three states are equally unreal.But the ajnani is unable to comprehend this,because for him the standard of reality is thewaking state, whereas for the jnani the standardof Reality is Reality itself. This Reality of PureConsciousness is eternal by its nature andtherefore subsists equally during what you callwaking, dreaming and sleep. To him who is onewith that Reality, there is neither the mind norits three states, and therefore, neither introversionnor extroversion.

His is the ever-waking state, because he is awake tothe eternal Self; his is the ever dreaming state, becauseto him the world is no better than a repeatedlypresented phenomenon of dream; his is the ever-sleeping state, because he is at all times without the‘body-am-I’ consciousness.

D: Should I then consider Sri Bhagavan as talking tome in a waking-dreaming-sleeping state?

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M: Because your conscious experience is now limitedto the duration of the extroversion of the mind, youcall the present moment the waking state, whereasall the while your mind has been asleep to the Self,and therefore you are now really fast asleep.

D: To me sleep is a mere blankness.

M: That is so, because your waking state is a mereeffervescence of the restless mind.

D: What I mean by blankness is that I am hardly awareof anything in my sleep; it is for me the same asnon-existence.

M: But you did exist during sleep.

D: If I did, I was not aware of it.

M: You do not mean to say in all seriousness you ceasedto exist during your sleep! (Laughing). If you wentto sleep as Mr. X, did you get up from it as Mr. Y?

D: I know my identity, perhaps, by an act of memory.

M: Granting that, how is it possible unless there is acontinuity of awareness?

D: But I was unaware of that awareness.

M: No. Who says you are unaware in sleep? It is yourmind. But there was no mind in your sleep? Ofwhat value is the testimony of the mind about yourexistence or experience during sleep? Seeking thetestimony of the mind to disprove your existence or

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awareness during sleep is just like calling your son’sevidence to disprove your birth!

Do you remember, I told you once previously thatexistence and awareness are not two different thingsbut one and the same? Well, if for any reason youfeel constrained to admit the fact that you existed insleep be sure you were also aware of that existence.

What you were really unaware of in sleep is yourbodily existence. You are confounding this bodilyawareness with the true Awareness of the Self whichis eternal. Prajnana, which is the source of ‘I-am’-ness, ever subsists unaffected by the three transitorystates of the mind, thus enabling you to retain youridentity unimpaired.

Prajnana is also beyond the three states, because itcan subsist without them and in spite of them.

It is that Reality that you should seek during your socalled waking state by tracing the aham-vritti to itsSource. Intense practice in this enquiry will revealthat the mind and its three states are unreal and thatyou are the eternal, infinite consciousness of PureBeing, the Self or the Heart.

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APPENDIXBBBBBHAHAHAHAHAGGGGGAAAAAVVVVVANANANANAN S S S S SRIRIRIRIRI R R R R RAMANAMANAMANAMANAMANAAAAA M M M M MAHARSHIAHARSHIAHARSHIAHARSHIAHARSHI

BBBBBYYYYY S S S S SRIRIRIRIRI S S S S SWAMIWAMIWAMIWAMIWAMI S S S S SIDDESHWARANANDAIDDESHWARANANDAIDDESHWARANANDAIDDESHWARANANDAIDDESHWARANANDA

Sri Swami Siddheswarananda was an erudite scholar of theVedanta and a distinguished member of the Order of SriRamakrishna Mission, and was in charge of its branch at Paris.

While in India, he was a frequent visitor of the ashram, andwas an ardent devotee of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshiwhom he adored as the living incarnation of the Truth, onewith the universe as a whole, the Self of All.

This article is condensed from the English translation done byMajor A. W. Chadwick, O. B. E., of the original article inFrench.

SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI EXPOUNDS Asystem of thought and philosophy of life, which incarnatesthe essence of Vedantic teachings. In India a philosophy oflife can have absolutely no influence except when it isreflected in the life of the one who expounds it. We oughtalso to say that it is the life of an individual and his‘realizations’ which give opportunity for the constructionof a philosophical system, and such a life brings anunderstanding and opens a horizon which affects societyas a whole and improves the relationship amongst men.

When the prophets of ancient India attained theultimate truths which they expressed forthwith in Vedic

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hymns and the teachings of the Upanishads, they werelooked upon as the salt of the earth, because they becamelighthouses which guide hesitating humanity on its path.The truths which these great beings discovered are hiddenin their soul. And what they teach man is only the meansof penetrating into himself to bring forth into the day thesecret treasure which all possess. It is the aspect of theright of each one to make his own introspection whichconfers dignity on man’s efforts, because Truth is ourlegitimate inheritance.

The Upanishads address themselves in these termsto all those who aspire after the Truth: “O, ye inheritors ofimmortal bliss!” Can anything more encouraging existthan these words of hope? It is not in the original sin thatman finds the basis of his existence, it is in the goldenflame of the light of Atman.

The Maharshi has discovered this; he found it of hisown accord, without any exterior help. A very youngscholar, he was overtaken by a fear of death. He threwaway books, which veil more often than they reveal theTruth; he extended himself on the ground, closed his eyesand imitated all the symptoms of death.

The following is what he himself has said about thisexperience:

Now death has come, what does it mean? What is itthat has died? The material body dies. I at once dramatizedthe scene of death. I extended my limbs and held themrigid. I held my breath. ‘Very well,’ I told myself, ‘this

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body is dead, they will come and take it to the cremationground and reduce it to ashes. But when the body is dead,am I dead? This body, is it I? It is inert, and moreover Ifeel my personality independent of it. I am then thedeathless Spirit transcending the body which alone livesand dies’. All this rose before me intensely, without havingto be expressed, as living truth perceived immediatelyand almost without argument. The fear of deathdisappeared entirely and definitely. This conscious andimmediate presence of the ‘I’ or Self altogether independentof the physical body, has continued ever since.

This direct experience of the Self is calledAparokshanubhuti; it is distinct from all knowledgeobtained by intellectual effort which always implies arelation between the subject and object, and consequentlyis limited by space and time, and is without anytranscendental value.

He who has had this direct experience of the Self isconsidered to be Liberated even while he is still alive. Heis called a Jivanmukta. The existence of such individualswho are living incarnations of the Truth, renders this Truthdemonstrable. The Vedantic realization of these greatbeings gives in effect the possibility of a practicalapplication, and their realizations raise the level of humanconsciousness.

It is this aspect of Vedanta which has attracted towardsits teachings the attention of savants. Vedantic researchgoes much deeper than all objective analysis of matter, it

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goes to the fundamental basis of perception and as suchgives us a synopsis of the Truth rather than a curtailedview. The interest that the West takes in the life andteachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi proves the universalattraction of Vedanta, which one can see embodied in theSage of Tiruvannamalai.

In an article on Indian Yoga, M. Lacombe of theParis University has written about the Maharshi:

His person sheds a force consisting of intelligenceand mastery of the Self. A flashing eye, intense and fixedwithout hardness, Olympian softness of gesture, slenderand delicate in an immobile body, he is considered byexcellent judges to be a very authentic Yogi and to havereached the highest Realization.

I cite this passage only to show the impressionproduced by a visit to Maharshi on one who appreciatesthe atmosphere that surrounds the Sage.

It is, however, very difficult for an European,moulded in the traditions of Theology and WesternPhilosophy, to have any contact whatsoever with theconception of Maharshi’s life.

I would respectfully observe to the learned professorthat the Maharshi is much rather a tattva jnani than a yogi;his conception of life embraces all life, which for an Indianembraces the three states, jagrat, svapna and sushupti. Theyogic is the experience of ‘I’ as cosmic identification whichtakes the jagrat as the essential field of experience. If one

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would find examples of this cosmic and universalexperience of the ‘I’, as M. Lacombe calls it, there is nolack of mystics in India who have reached sufficientrealization on this basis of experience.

But the Maharshi is above all a tattva jnani and thefield of his search and experience is much greater thanthat of a mystic. The Sage transcends the limits of thethree states.

The Maharshi accepts the terminology sanctionedby tradition and always employed by the sages of Indiasince the time of the Upanishads.

The teachings of Maharshi are in perfect accord withthe philosophical and spiritual scriptures of ancient Indiaand proceed directly from the great Sages of the past.

Whoever has occasion to examine at first hand theMaharshi, knows full well that he is neither an ‘extrovert’nor an ‘introvert’. He is the most normal man that onecould ever find. He is in effect a sthitaprajna, a man whoseintelligence is solidly founded. I have seen him apparentlyplunged in himself, when everybody believed him to beabsorbed in his own Self, but when at this momentsomeone at the end of the hall made a mistake in therecitation of certain Tamil verses, the Maharshi openedhis eyes, corrected the mistake, then again closed his eyesand returned to his former state. I have already stated thatone cannot say that the exterior world does not interesthim. He has reached an extraordinary degree ofconcentration, and as that concentration perpetually rests

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on an habitual state of life in jnana or — as the Sage callsit — sahajasthiti, he is neither an introvert nor an extrovert.Just simply, he IS. And by his knowledge of the ultimateReality he is one with That in its expression of multiplicityof manifestation, he is one with the Universe as a whole.

When I saw him I found in him the perfect exampleof the description which Sri Sankaracharya gives in hisVivekachudamani, when he explains what characterises aJivanmukta. Verse 429 reads:

lInxIrip jagitR ja¢ÏmRivvijRt>,baexae invRisnae ySy s jIvNmu #:yte.

“He who even when his mind is merged in Brahman,is nevertheless entirely awake, but is at the same time freefrom the characteristics of the waking state, and whoserealization is free from all desire, should be considered aman liberated while still alive”.

The notion of introversion and extroversion cannotbe applied to one whose philosophy of life reposes uniquelyon the experience of the waking state.

In the Panchadasi, which is an authoritative workon Advaita, we find in Verse 13 of Chapter VI, a statementwhich is extremely important on this point. The author,Vidyaranya, says:

naàtIitStyaebix> ikNtu imWyaTviníy>,nae ceTsu;uiÝmUCDaRdaE muCyetayÆtae jn>.

“The destruction of the world and of the jiva doesnot signify that they should become imperceptible to the

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senses, but there should arise a determination of theirunreal nature. If such is not the case, people may findemancipation without making any personal effort, as indreamless sleep or in a swoon (when all perceptionsdisappear completely)”.

As the Gita says, the Atman, forgetting its real nature,believes that it is the ego and the author of all actions,which is the cause of all misunderstanding. A man likethe Maharshi, who has transcended the ego, is consideredby the Upanishads to be the Self of All.

If we could but spend sometime by the side of theMaharshi, we should then be able to understand better inthe light of words spoken by the Sage on philosophicalproblems that life of illumination, like the great fire whichburns on the Hill Arunachala, is a veritable lighthouse forthose who wish to find in modern India the revivifyingeffects of the teachings of the Upanishads consecrated bytime.

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GLOSSARYGLOSSARYGLOSSARYGLOSSARYGLOSSARY

A

Abhyasa: spiritual practice.

Advaita: non-duality; also the doctrine of non-dualism.

Aham: ‘I’.

A ham-vritti: the ‘I-thought’, the limited feeling of ‘I-ness’.

Ajnana: ignorance of one’s own true nature.

Ajnani: a person who is ignorant of his true nature.

Anubhava: experience, especially the experience ofSelf-knowledge.

Aparokshanubhuti: direct experience (of Self-knowledge).

Artha-Vada: explanatory argument given to suit a particularpurpose.

Asan: posture, especially a posture adopted for meditation.

Asramam: the abode of a Sage or ascetic.

Atman: the real Self.

Atma-jnani: a person who has attained Self-knowledge.

Atma-vichara: Self-enquiry, the practice of scrutinizing or at-tending to the feeling ‘I’ in order to find out ‘Who am I?’

Atma-vidya: Self-knowledge.

B

Bhajana: singing of devotional songs.

Bhakta: devotee.

Bhakti: devotion.

Bhavana: imagination, meditation.

Brahma-jnana: knowledge of Brahman.

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Brahman: the absolute, non-dual reality, which is the Self orAtman.

C

Chakra: one of the six main yogic centres in the body.

Chidananda: the bliss of pure consciousness.

Chit: pure consciousness, which is the nature of the real Self.

Chit-jada-granthi: the knot between the Self, which is pure con-sciousness, and the body, which is insentient.

D

Dehatma-buddhi: the feeling ‘I am this body’.Dhyana: meditation.Dvaita: duality; also the doctrine of dualism.

G

Gita: the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most renowned Hindu scrip-tures.

Guru: a true spiritual teacher, who is one with God or the real Self.

Guru-kripa: the Grace of the Guru.Grihasta: a householder, a person leading a married life.

H

Hridayam: the Heart, which is the real Self.

I

Iswara-svarupa: the nature of God or Iswara.

J

Jada: insentient.

Jagrat: the waking state.

Jagrat-sushupti: the state of wakeful sleep, in which there areno thoughts but in which there is full awareness of theexistence-consciousness ‘I am’.

Glossary

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Japa: repetition of a mantra or a name of God.

Jiva: an individual soul.

Jivanmukta: a person who is liberated even while living in the body.

Jnana: knowledge, especially knowledge of the real Self.

Jnana-vichara: Self-enquiry, enquiry leading to Jnana orSelf-knowledge.

Jnani: a person who has attained Self-knowledge.

K

Karma-yogi: a person whose actions are not motivated by desirefor personal benefit or by any other kind of attachment.

Kevala nirvikalpa samadhi: a temporary state of samadhi or Self-absorption.

L

Lakshya: target (on which attention is focussed), that which iskept in view.

M

Maharshi: a great Sage.

Mantra: a sacred formula used for japa or repetition.

Marga: a spiritual path.

Maya: delusion.

Moksha: liberation.

Mauna: silence.

N

Nama: a name (of God).

Nama-japa: repetition of a name of God.

Namaskar: the act of obeisance.

Nirvana: the state of liberation or egolessness.

Nirvikalpa samadhi: the state of Self-absorption.

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P

Prarabdha: destiny, the portion of the fruit of one’s past actionswhich are allotted to be experienced in this lifetime.

Prasad: food offered to the Guru or a deity, a portion of whichmay be returned to the devotee as a sign of blessing.

Purusha Sukta: a hymn from the Rig Veda.

Prajnana: pure consciousness.

R

Rajas: the second of the three gunas or qualities of nature, namelythe quality of restlessness, desire and passion.

Rishi: a Sage.

S

Sadhana: a spiritual practice, a means adopted for spiritualprogress.

Sadhaka: a person who practises sadhana.Sahaja jnani: a person who abides in his natural state, having

attained Self-knowledge.Sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi: the permanent and natural state of

samadhi or complete Self -absorption.Sahaja-sthiti: the natural state.Sahasrara: the brain, described metaphorically as a

thousand-petalled lotus.Samadhi: the state of Self-absorption, in which (as defined by

Sri Bhagavan on p. 23) “there is only the feeling I am’ andno thoughts”.

Samsara: the state of mundane activity or worldly existence.Samskara: a mental impression or tendency continuing from

former lives.Sannyasa: renunciation.Sannyasin: a renunciate.

Glossary

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Sastras: the scriptures.Sat: true existence or being.Sat-chit: existence-consciousness.Sattva: the first of the three gunas or qualities of nature, namely

the quality of calmness, goodness and purity.Sattvic: of the nature of Sattva.Siddhis: occult powers.Sri Bhagavata: one of the eighteen puranas, a sacred text cen-

tred mainly around the life of Sri Krishna.Sthita-prajna: a person who firmly abides in the state of

Self-knowledge.Suddha-sattva: uncontaminated purity or sattva.Suddha-sattva svarupa: the form of uncontaminated sattva.Sunya-vadin: an atheist, a person who denies the existence of

God or any ultimate reality.Sushupti: dreamless sleep.Svapna: dream.

T

Tamas: the last of the three gunas or qualities of nature, namelythe quality of darkness ignorance and evil.

Tattva-jnani: a person who knows the reality.

Truth Revealed: the work Ulladu Narpadu by Bhagavan Sri Ra-mana.

U

Upanishads: the later and more philosophical portions of the Vedas.

V

Vairagya: desirelessness.

Vasana: a mental tendency continuing from former lives.

Vasana-kshaya: the destruction of all vasanas.

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Vastu: the reality or ultimate substance.

Vedas: the oldest of the Hindu scriptures.

Vedanta: the philosophy of the Upanishads.

Vichara: enquiry or scrutiny, that is, the practice Self -enquiryor atma vichara.

Vichara marga: the path of Self -enquiry.

Visishtadvaita: the doctrine of qualified non-dualism

Vritti: thought, activity of the mind.

W

Who am I?: the work Nan Yar? by Bhagavan Ramana.

Y

Yoga: literally ‘union’ or ‘uniting’; this word is used in manydifferent senses, but generally denotes the path of raja yogaexpounded by the Sage Patanjali.

Yoga marga: the path of raja yoga.

Yoga-maya: the power to veil the nature of something and tocreate an illusory appearance.

Yoga-sastras: the scriptures which expound the path of raja yoga.

Yoga-Vasishtha: a renowned sacred text which expounds the pathof knowledge or jnana yoga.

Yogi: an adept in yoga.

Glossary